Redemption
by Blackcat314
Summary: He believed he was giving her space. She thought he didn't care. It was clear that their paths would never cross again...until a kidnapping forces Misaki to go back to Shizume City. To the surprise of all, she is the new deputy vanguard for Scepter 4? Fem!Misaki x Saruhiko, sarumi baby, and later smut. Rated T for now, may change to M later.
1. Sin

Redemption chp.1: Sin

I know I should be updating A Fortunate Mistake instead, but this plot has been floating in my head for a while…it's another Fem!Misaki story, with Sarumi baby. Except this time, this story starts with the child…it's probably also going to get pretty angsty, so get your tissue boxes ready.

This story takes place after the last episode, so regrettably, Mikoto is dead. ;n; Homura is going to be disbanded, since all the movie teasers suggest that the Homura members have all gone off on their own ways. Except in this story, Misaki isn't a mechanic (that's what he looks like from the official teaser art…that red jumpsuit and blinged-out belt…). There is still a lot of debate about whether the Homura members still have their red flames, since it has been pointed out that in the K novel series, Side Blue, it was said that previous Scepter 4 members still retained their Blue Aura after their King had died. It is suspected that perhaps it is the same for the Red Clan.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this plot except for the OCs, the rest of the characters and ideas, including the Clans and powers, belong to GoRa and GoHands respectively. I make no profit from this fan work.

- a month after the mornings after-

"O-oh my god….oh my god…..t-this….this can't be happening…! I-it must be a mistake, yeah, hahaha….that's it, it has to be a mistake…! These things don't always work anyway,r- right…?" a redheaded girl said to herself shakily as she looked at the thing with shaking hands. The white plastic wand in her hand indicated quite clearly that she was positively pregnant. Sighing, she tossed it into the garbage amongst the pile of used white wands. She steadied herself against the bathroom counter, her head down as she tried to take it all in. That had been the tenth test she tried, and all the tests she tried before indicated that she was, without a doubt, pregnant.

It had been a month since her one week "disappearance" when she suddenly showed up at the HOMRA bar shortly after Suoh Mikoto's death. She hadn't answered her phone, and the remaining members of Homura couldn't find her no matter where they checked. Naturally, they were both worried and furious when the russet haired girl burst into the bar that day all out of breath and in tears. After a sound scolding from Kusanagi, Misaki slowly explained what had gone on those seven days that she had been missing…in very vague terms. She also told Kusanagi that she had been feeling sick recently during this month , and the blond man had paled for a while.

"I suppose this is indeed a tough time for all of us, and I realize all of us need some form of comfort, no matter what the source is. I don't fault you for what you did, rather, I'm worried for your health. Yata-chan, you should probably go to the store and get yourself a couple of pregnancy tests. I know you feel it's awkward, but right now is not the time to run away. You need to know what to do now so you can plan ahead, Yata-chan. I want you to know that no matter what the result is, we won't judge you or hate on you. I want you to promise me that if you no matter if you are pregnant or not, that you'll come to us for help. Ok?" he lectured gently yet firmly.

"O-ok…." She had whimpered quietly before snapping back to her usual self and bullying Kamamoto into buying the pregnancy tests for her. Of course, he was met with a fair share of dirty glares from female cashiers, despite his summer month good looks. Now Misaki sat down on the floor of her bathroom, still numb from realizing that she was pregnant. _'What should I do now? I know I need to tell Kusanagi-san and the others, but it's already been a month and three days, and still there isn't even a word from __him__….' _She stared at a wall blankly before slowly getting up, and making her way to the kitchen where her phone sat. With shaky fingers, she dialed Kusanagi's number and recapped to him what had transpired in the bathroom. After a moment, a sigh could be heard, and the blond man finally replied in a tired voice, "Come to the HOMRA bar, Yata-chan. There is something I need to tell everyone, and we also need to decide what we can do for you and the baby." "O-ok….I'll see you in a bit." She replied quietly. "Mm-hm. See ya in a bit, and don't skateboard. It's dangerous, you can lose the baby."

- The bright morning-

"Yes…yes, that's what I ordered. It's ok, as long as it is ready by tomorrow evening, I shall be coming to pick it up. Yes, thank you." Satisfied, a blue-black haired boy hung up. Although there were a few things that weren't going so smoothly, it seemed that it would be resolved by the time he needed it. Nothing could ruin Fushimi Saruhiko's mood as he happily tucked a velvet box into the folds of his jacket and made his way with brisk steps to the florist to check on his order. He had finally done it! Tomorrow night will be the night that all his wishes came true, and then he would never have to pass his days pining for his dear Misaki. That's right, after that one week of Misaki, him, and a private room last month, he was certain he had made her his. Now all that was left was to seal the deal with marriage…and he was quite confident that she wouldn't deny. After all, she did not come and complain or rant at him…usually his fiery crow would be stomping mad already is she was displeased. He certainly did not want to ruin his chances by teasing her, so he decided to plan one step ahead and prepare for a marriage. He assumed her silence meant she was ok with it…she's just too shy to take the initiative! Although it was an absolute torture to hold himself back and not just bombard the girl with affection and gifts right off the bat, he knew she needed more time to herself to sort things out and come to terms with the inevitable. _'Cute, awkward lover Misaki…. Don't worry my love, you won't have to wait any longer!' _Satisfied, he continued with his plans for the day.

"U-uh….umm…oi." Misaki grunted silently as she pushed open the HOMRA bar doors and walked in slowly. All the eyes of the remaining members (who happened to be the same people close to Mikoto back when he was alive) were fixed on her, and there was an awkward silence that permeated the room. "Yata-chan, thank goodness you're here. Now we can start discussing our problems." Kusanagi stated with relief. He was so worried that the redhead would meet with some kind of accident or worse…be kidnapped again. "Umm, ok…" she sat herself down quietly, while the rest of the Homura members turned their attention back to the blond man at the head of the table. What other problems were there besides hers? "Alright, first things first. I…don't really want to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm guessing you guys already know, right? The Blues have begun to move, now that our King is gone. I'm pretty sure you've all run into some trouble yourselves, right?" He looked around, surveying for the different reactions from the members. "You mean how the Blues have tried to arrest us so many times for some random crimes that certainly could not have led to arrest?" Dewa asked in return, not sure if that was the problem Kusanagi was hinting at.

"Yes. And you all know the reason for that, right?" the blond man asked again, met with some knowing stares, and others drawing a pure blank. "Yeah, we were never cool with those jackasses and now they're just getting back at us for all those times we proved them wrong. They're just a bunch of fancy-ass pussies who can't take being proven wrong." Bandou huffed indignantly, angry at the thought of the Blues, those self-righteous bunch ho think of themselves in such a high-and-mighty manner when they're no better by coercing one of their own to join their side. "That, and also because we have Anna. Munakata has had his eye on Anna ever since he became the Blue King. You all know that the Blues fancy themselves as some sort of guard team that 'regulates' strains, right? Now that Mikoto is gone, that sly bastard wants to take our Anna-chan into 'custody'. It's true that he came and spoke to me of it before, even promising to fund all of Anna-chan's schooling from grade school to university. However, I'm skeptical of that offer…he must be planning on testing Anna-chan's powers. What do you think, Anna-chan?" Kusanagi looked solemnly at the white haired girl.

"….I don't want to go with Munakata-san. It's only going to be test after test, like at that strain facility…" she replied without emotion, but her eyes betrayed what she really felt inside. "Hmm~ is that so? I see…then not going it is. Next problem we have…I know you are all aware of how Yata-chan had been missing for a week one month ago." He again, stared slowly around the room, taking in each member's reaction. "Hmph. They certainly have interesting 'causes'…not so sure if they're as uppity and righteous as they like to pose to be. Not with what that little bastard decided to pull. I can be a coward, yes. But even I am not jerk enough to pull off something like that. I can't stand anyone who mistreats a lady like that." Chitose spoke up, surprisingly. "So…what….what happened….?" Rikio spoke up uncomfortably. It was clear the tanned man did not really want to find out the results of the ten pregnancy tests he was bullied into buying. Of all the things in the world, he never, ever thought there would be a day where he'd need to buy pregnancy tests for Yata Misaki, the kid who had bullied him since childhood, even though he was the older one. Well, to say "bullied" is not quite the right word, since she also stood up for him. She was a spirited, gutsy spitfire, and never in a million years did he think he'd see the day she became vulnerable like this.

"Yata-chan, do you want to be the one to tell everyone, or do you want me to say it?" Kusanagi asked, concerned about the redhead's emotional state. He didn't want her to feel guilty or like he was blaming her if he explained it, so he'd rather turn the spotlight to the redhead instead. "I can…uhh….explain. Um, yeah. Thanks." Misaki replied rather awkwardly. During her one week disappearance, she hadn't known the Blues had tried to pull all this arresting stunt. She thought it was only recently. Now she felt doubly guilty, like some sort of betrayal to her clansmen, to come out with this kind of news. "O-ok, you guys remember that one w-week when I was missing, right?" Misaki started, beginning to panic a bit. It was really embarrassing to have to admit this! "Uh-huh. You were kidnapped by that snarky little bastard."Dewa stated, everyone's concerned look now trained on her. "Um, uh….yeah. T-the kidnapping…uhm, s-so….ok, d-don't panic, guys! Like, uh…." She paused, her mind had suddenly blanked out on her. Despite that, everyone else had remained calm, and gave the crow a silent moment to collect herself, no matter how long that silence went on for.

After what seemed to have been ten minutes of silence, she began again, "Umm…so, during that kidnapping…Saruhiko and I…we…..uhh…well, you guys know what happened…and umm, now, I'm p-pregnant." She explained quite bluntly, her eyes shut in a grimace and her face red, as if she expected them all to slap her or something. When nothing happened for a while, she slowly creaked open an eye, and then the other. All the members of Homura had slightly surprised expressions, save for Anna, who remained emotionless-looking. They had all known what had transpired during that week-long kidnapping, and had already somewhat expected this to be the result. However, hearing the redhead admit it was still a bit of a shocker. "Tch! That cheeky bastard has really done it this time! I say we stop putting up with the Blues, go to their fancy ass mansion, beat up a few of 'em real good, and leave them sobbing. And one more castrated for his cheekiness, and you know who I mean."Bandou burst out, unable to contain the anger for all the injustices his clan had to endure because of the Blues.

Granted, other underground gangs and remnant strains have tried to pick fights with them and get revenge for the past instances where they ruined whole drug cartels back when Mikoto was still around. Of course, the Homura core consisted of many able fighters themselves, even without the red flames, they were still a group to be reckoned with. These gangs and remnants soon found that out first hand, though these, too, were far and few. When Homura did a raid, they left no blood, no bone, no ash. Only a few gang remnant members or remnant strains survived, probably because they turn tailed and ran as soon as the gangs were being beaten. The Blues were a sore topic, since they are the only ones currently a real threat to the remnant members of Homura. Kusanagi held up a hand to signal that Bandou needed to stop and Akagi quickly pulled his buddy back, reassuring and calming him down. "I know you're ticked off, Bandou. But we still have many problems, such as Anna being targeted by them, and now Yata-chan's condition as well. We can't afford to have any more people targeted or injured, so we're clearly not going to do what you just suggested. We need to lay low for now, until they've forgotten us or stopped trying to find us. But I want to know what Yata-chan plans to do first, since she is in a more dangerous situation than any of us." The sand-haired man turned to the russet-haired girl.

"E-eh!? Me? Why? I mean, I know I'm pr-pregnant…..but, nah, it's gonna' be ok. I'll scrape by somehow, even though I'm low on money and—" the redhead was stopped when she was met with a very pointed look from Kusanagi. "That's not what I meant, Yata-chan. I mean what do you plan to do with the baby? Keep it? Abort it? Even if you abort the child, we won't judge you." "A-abort it!? No way! I can never do something so cruel like that! I-it's not…it's not this baby's fault. If there's anyone at fault, it's that damn monkey! Even thinking about him makes me so angry! Ugh!" Misaki spoke up, anger rising again at the thought of that week. Why did she do what she did, again? " I see. So you plan to keep the baby. Just let me warn you first: it's going to be a really tough road especially because you don't have enough money to buy food and necessities during the later months of your pregnancy, when you can't work. Don't worry about that, though. We do have enough money from all of our previous 'operations', so I can help you out as far as money goes…but you have to be prepared to move somewhere discrete and far away. Like I said before, we all need to lay low. That means almost every one of us—" he made eye contact with every member now, to make sure they understand that he means all of them. "—will have to leave Shizume City, and stay far away until things calm down. Scepter 4 can't reach us outside of Shizume City, but just to be on the safe side, I want you all to stay away from the neighbouring cities as well, in case they decide to investigate those cities too. Any questions? And no, you cannot ask whether there is a choice." There. It was finally out there. The official though not spoken disbandment of Homura.

"Kusanagi-san, I get what you're saying, but you know how we came together…it's because we don't have anywhere else to fit in. I don't know where we're going to go. To be honest, that's what's worrying me right now." Shouhei (Akagi) spoke up honestly. "I thought that would come up…I've got some ideas about where you should go, if you all want to hear." The spectacled man surveyed around the table before starting, "Anna will go with Kamamoto to his home village, it's far enough. The Blues will try to capture me first, but they won't suspect Kamamoto that quickly, since he has such drastic changes between seasons. It will be hard for them to pinpoint him for arrest. Chitose already has a job as a salesman and you're attending university, right?" A quick nod from the womanizer, which shocked the whole table. They didn't know Chitose was actually in a university. "Good. Do your routine stuff like you always do, so the Blues don't suspect a thing. Just don't come here anymore, I will be gone. I'm leaving the bar to Dewa in the meantime. You have a very smart, business-oriented brain in you, you can probably run this shop well. Just make sure you change the bar to something else after the Blues have had their initial investigation. Trust me, they will do that. My intel is almost never wrong about this. They won't find anything, because I've already moved and cleaned out anything from Homura during this month. Once they've had their search, change the bar into another type of shop, maybe a café or boutique, whatever you like. Just make sure it's tasteful, and DON'T TOUCH MY BAR. The imported bar counter STAYS, alright? I'll be back someday to reopen HOMRA bar, but in the meantime, look after it, ok?" Dewa nodded, mute with tears brimming at the corner of his eyes. Kusanagi only smiled back sadly.

Dewa knew all of this was a farce. Kusanagi really meant to start him off on a business of his own so he wouldn't be stuck with nothing. After all, he hadn't really had plans to attend university because he had little money, but he was considering an accounting degree. Taking over the business would get him some cash, and in a year or two, he'll probably be able to afford university…that is, if Chitose won't leech off of him. "Bandou and Shouhei…do you guys mind helping out at my friend's bar a few cities over? It ain't easy work, but at least you guys are guaranteed a living wage[1] and the Blues can't get you there. My friend owns that bar, so he'll know not to spill anything if any Blues do wander there." He looked at them for an answer, which took a while, as both of them had to silently debate among themselves. "Umm….where is this bar? I was planning on going back to my hometown and working at my family's produce store, and having San-chan live with us, too…." Shouhei replied sheepishly. "Oh, is that so? I'm glad you guys already had a plan…my friend's bar is in the Entertainment Disctrict of Hakone town, if you guys wanted to know." At this, both the boys' faces lit up. "Whaaat!? No way~! Hakone is our hometown! We can work at both places!" Shouhei exclaimed happily, ever the carefree boy that he was. "Ahh, that's a great relief. Next is Kosuke and Eric. Do you guys have anywhere you want to go?" Kusanagi asked, a lot less strained, seeing as the members were willing to go with what he suggested. He had expected brimstone and hellfire for even suggesting they leave.

"I'll go wherever Kosuke goes." Came Eric's resolute reply. The blond man turned to look at Kosuke for confirmation. "Mm. I guess it's ok to work at a farm or an animal shelter or something…but I haven't the slightest where I'll go." The orange haired boy replied. "If that's so…hmm, I can ask one of my associates who runs a farm a few cities over to take you guys in." "That…sounds like a plan. I'll have a go at it." Kosuke replied firmly, sparing a glance at Eric, who silently nodded in agreement. "Hm. This accounts for everyone except Yata-chan. Yata-chan, you should probably move to some small, quiet village so you can nurture the baby in peace without being pursued by the Blues. Is there any place you have in mind?" the blond man tensed again, weary but worried for one of the younger but more volatile members of his clan…well, remnants of a clan, anyway. Dismally, the russet-haired girl shook her head. "I can probably go back and live with my Ma, but if the Blues chase after us….he will probably look there first. Besides, I don't think I want to go back so suddenly, after leaving like that….Ma must be pissed as hell…and if the Blues do chase all the way there, I don't want to drag her into my troubles." The remaining members looked grimly. They all knew who she meant by "him", it was no secret.

"…..I see. I'm glad I've prepared an extra place that will suit our needs. I have a tiny cottage that I keep as an additional source of income in the village of Momoiro[2]. Surprisingly, it is only half an hour's drive from Kamamoto's home village, and it's by the sea. You can catch a ferry ride to Okinawa in case you need to get away quickly. Since you are most likely to be pursued, you will be leaving tonight. There's still a few hours until sunset. For now, go back to your apartment and pack your things. Remember, only the most important things for now. The rest we can send to you gradually, if you need them. Understand?" Kusanagi explained with the utmost seriousness. There was no room to argue, and the redhead heaved a sigh and nodded. Satisfied, Kusanagi bade everyone to leave and prepare for their own departures, though most of them would be leaving a week after the crow.

Misaki loitered around her own apartment, taking in everything one last time. Who knows how long she'll be gone? Maybe she'll never come back again…sure, her apartment was no Shangri-La, but it was her very first "own place" that she managed to get. Well, Saruhiko and her. But it was time to put away the past, and be on her way. She managed to pack all that she needed within 45 minutes, and no later, Kusanagi and the rest of the gang had arrived at her apartment to help her on her way. "Are you all set, Yata-chan?" the blond man asked, receiving a muttered "yes" in response. The russet-haired girl held a black sports bag bulging with belongings, and her special black Homura hoodie. Her usual beanie was gone, her red hair covered by the hoodie's hood instead. "Alright, let's get in the car first, as we go along, I'll explain." He motioned for everyone to pile into the blue van. As Dewa started the engine, Kusanagi looked around cautiously before beginning. Good, there were no Blues, and the sky had completely darkened. It was already 11pm.

When the van was ell on the highway, Kusanagi began to speak. "Okay, Yata-chan. Once we get there, we will enter my cottage with you. You can drop off your stuff, then I'd like to introduce you to Mari-san. She is the Madam[3] of a local teahouse where you will work until you are too pregnant to do so. This way, you can earn some money for expenses later. Kamamoto will be looking after you and checking on you from time to time, but he won't be here all the time, alright?" "O-ok…by the way, what will I be doing at the teahouse?" she asked warily. She hadn't much experience with fancy, traditional Japanese establishments. "You'll be waitressing, like you do in your part-time jobs. I've seen how you are, when you helped out at the HOMRA bar. If you kept your temper down, you actually make a very good waitress, did you know that? Anyway, just keep a low profile and do your waitressing…they might also make you do odd jobs, since it is a teahouse. You might be asked to look after the dancers a bit." "W-what? Look after dancers…? What kind…!?" Misaki was a little bit worried at the mention of dancers.

"…Traditional Japanese dancers. You know, like geishas? You might be asked to run a few errands for them around the teahouse. Don't worry, you won't be dancing or doing anything of the like." The blond man reassured her. The rest of the 2 hour ride went on silently, and Misaki dozed off to sleep as Shizume City became a mere speck in the distance.

- End of Chp.1 –

Personally, my theory is that the powers are based on the highlighting quality which the King had given to his powers. For the Blue Clan, it was organization and law, so as long as the organization (Scepter 4) existed and its members continued to follow the rules the organization set up, and work in the belief that "law and order is what makes this world", then the powers remained in the clansman. In the Blue Side novel, the remnant Scepter 4 members, although they still had their powers, continued to frantically look for the next Blue King, which to me reflects that they believe in their organization and what it stood for. Consequently, the belief that there needs to be organization in society, also meant they believed they needed a King to finish the organized hierarchy.


	2. Spark

Redemption chp.2: Spark

Hello everyone~! Thank you for everyone who has reviewed, faved, followed, and/or visited this story~! I'm not too sure where this story is headed so far, except that it's gonna' take one rough road down Angst Lane. I mean, this story is called "Redemption" for a reason…and it's not a happy one. Still, I hope this doesn't turn out too angsty to the point of suicidal…

Anyway, that's enough from me, here's the fic~!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the K characters or official plot, those belong to GoRa and GoHands, respectively. I only own the plot and OC's that show up.

* * *

The sun shone brightly in the blue sky, bearing in it a few occasional fluffy clouds. Ahh, even the weather seemed to be in his favour today. The blue-black haired third-in-command/vanguard of Scepter 4 woke up easily, and for once felt glad to be alive. He put on his glasses and looked around his room, double checking to make sure that everything he needed was in place and ready. Yep, all set up. The package he had wanted (which was delayed) finished on time yesterday, and sat on his desk wrapped up in white, pearlescent paper. Humming slightly to himself, he readied himself for the day. Thankfully, it was a Sunday, so he had no work. Carefully, he groomed himself before slipping into a very suave suit.

Humming slightly, he ate breakfast with ease and almost skipped his way to the local florist's. All the while, he kept checking in his pocket to make sure that the small velvet box was still tucked inside. Without fail, it was always there as it should be. He showed up to the florist as expected, and they, too, had his order as expected. Smooth sailing all the way, Saruhiko made his way to a very dinky, and rundown apartment. Whistling lightly, a mischievous grin sat on his face as he tapped away quickly on his PDA, and sent the message off. Finding a nice spot on a nearby bench, he waited for his fiery headed love to show.

However, one minute turned to ten, and ten turned to thirty…eventually, thirty minutes became an hour and still there was no sign of the red crow, nor a reply. As he waited, Saruhiko had texted vigorously, getting more and more anxious as time wore on. After an hour had passed, he seriously considered going up to her apartment and breaking in. "Fancy seeing you here." The voice stopped the sapphire-raven officer immediately. He hadn't heard that voice in a while, and he turned around to face the spectacled man. "Hm~ someone is very prepared, I see…prepared to make amends?" the blond man asked casually as he looked at Saruhiko with a sideways glance. Frowning ,the blue officer all but grumbled, "Tch. What I do in my free time is none of your business. What amends could I possibly need to make to Misaki? I did nothing wrong." "Oh? Really now? Is that so~….Saru-kun? You've really become quite…brazen, haven't you…? Kidnapping and raping Yata-chan like that without a shred of regret…and you have the nerve to come here with flowers like you're some gentleman courting her?" Kusanagi started out slyly, but gradually become edgy as what Fushimi did was directly addressed.

"What do you mean 'kidnapping' and 'raping'? I did no such thing. There was certainly no rape, she asked me to take her. Tch, I don't even know why I'm explaining myself to you when I've got more important, life changing things to do. By the way, Kusanagi-san…for old time's sake, I'll give you a helpful hint: shouldn't you be running into hiding right now~?" Saruhiko was all but vexed. Of course, the mother hen of Homura HAD to show up now. He won't stand for it, however. Today was his special day, the beginning of his "happily ever after". He will not tolerate even a shred of Homura to taint it. "Oh~? Am I the one who should be running? Well then, don't say I didn't warn you when I tell you, you've come here for nothing." With a satisfactory but wry grin, the blond man took his leave. If that brat was going to be so impudent to him, then so be it. He will save any explanations and let him have a fun time piecing things together bit by bit. A nice, long, agonizing 'fun' time.

'_Tch. Who does he think he is? He may be the super protective mother hen of the Red clan, but he isn't anything else outside of that. How dare he accuse me of raping my wife-to-be when he has no inkling of the unique love between us! Just like how the rest of the Red Clan doesn't get it…but whatever. I think it's time to check on Mi~Sa~Ki~~_' Satisfied with his thoughts, he headed up the dinky apartment with flowers in hand. His classiness obviously caused a few heads to turn as he went through the fairly unguarded lobby, passing a few of the neighbours who either stared enviously (the guys) or with awe (the females). Ignoring them all, he headed to the unit that he was all too familiar with. After all, he used to live there with his beloved Misaki until Homura tore them apart. Becoming slightly nervous, he quickened his pace. Finally, the door with its peeling paint greeted him. Eagerly, he rang the doorbell, and waited. One minute, two minutes, and then three minutes passed….with no answer, Saruhiko rang the door bell again. Still no answer. Getting antsy, he banged on the door, and called out, "Mi~Sa~Ki~! Come out, darling! Today's the day we've both been waiting for~!"

When none of his appeals worked, he reached into the arm bands on his wrists. Unbeknownst to everyone, his knives weren't the only things he kept in there. He pulled out a tiny, thin bobby pin, and began to pick the lock. Within seconds, he burst into the apartment. "MISAKI~!" the blue officer greeted happily, his arms open in the air…only to be met with an empty apartment. An empty apartment with a lot of stuff missing. Frantically, he began to search everywhere. There were no signs of a struggle and everything was well in place, so clearly there hadn't been a robbery or anything. The furniture and the pots and pans remained in the kitchen. Her laptop was gone, and so was her game console. Only the games remained behind. Necessities and anything of value were missing. It was clear that she had run away. Shocked, Saruhiko slumped down onto the couch, his head bent down as if in mourning. "So this is your answer….hahaha….I…I won't take this, Mi~Sa~Kii~…this is absolutely not your answer! I'll make you change it….! Hahahaha!" the blue-black haired man laughed manically as tears ran down his face. The flowers were scattered all over the coach, dotting the red fabric with different patches of colour. It wasn't supposed to happen this way… he was supposed to ask her to marry him, and she'd say yes because she has his baby, and then they'll get married and raise their baby together and live happily ever after!

He laid his head down on the couch for who knows how long, sometimes laughing, falling silent, only to burst into hysteric screams of anguish. He managed, however, to filch as much as he could that reminded him of Misaki in the things remaining. He was lucky enough to find a black tank top, the kind Misaki usually wore underneath her clothes. This one seemed to have been neglected underneath the bed, and held her scent. Somewhat consoled, Saruhiko made his way back home with whatever remnants of his could-be happiness to begin his search for his beloved.

- 5 years later-

"Mama, I weady to go." A blue haired boy waited patiently by the door for his mother, his round, hazel eyes trained on the baby blue laces of his shoes as he fiddled. He couldn't wait. Today was the day he started his very first day of school! "Ahh, alright, alright! Mama's almost ready, just give me a moment~" came the reply from within the unit. A few loud bangs could be heard, and then a scrambling of footsteps. A young woman around 25 years of age came rushing out in a corporate suit dress, her hair done up in a bun and her makeup immaculate (though not loud or obvious). Looking at her, one would not believe that she was the unruly vanguard of Homura five years ago. Nor would anyone believe that Yatagarasu and the Yata Misaki of today are the same person if two photographs, one before and one after, were to be shown side by side.

Although dressing up in corporate coordinates were not her style, she knew she should at least look like a reliable mother to make a good impression for her son's first day in school. Especially since she is a single mother. Although Mari-san had protected her and stopped any loudmouths in the town from ridiculing her, she knew that there were still those who glanced at her with discriminatory eyes. "_Look at her, that young mother…a hussy no doubt. Probably an irresponsible teenager who got herself knocked up and was abandoned by the guy."_ Those were the things some people still whisper and gossip about her as she went about her usual day. Although the first year was rough for her and she didn't quite get along with a lot of people, she gradually learned to be more subtle about it. Of course, working at Mari-san's teahouse[1] helped with developing her subtlety. It was a place of quiet and elegant contemplation, after all. Misaki had gone through many hardships raising her child alone these five years, and she had matured a lot through it. Although she was rather unwilling at first, she realized that she had to curb some of her quick anger for the sake of her child and herself. It was pointless to even care about the taunts and insults sometimes.

Although her years were hard, they were not by any means, hopeless. Kamamoto and his wife (they were still just dating a year before, that sly man), Ayumi[2], would also visit from time to time. More frequently, since Ayumi just got pregnant and Misaki was just the right person to look after her while Kamamoto was at work. In the beginning, when Kamamoto was charged with taking care of both Anna and occasionally Misaki, there had been a lot of misunderstandings between her and Ayumi. Gradually, that was worked off and she became reassured, even helpful, towards the end of Misaki's pregnancy. Mari-san had been all but obliging, varying Misaki's work tasks as her pregnancy became more obvious. She had been very strict with Misaki when she first started working there, but she also coached her after hours to help control her temper and handle rowdy guests in a more dignified manner. In fact, she rather reminded Misaki of Kusanagi-san. Which should be no surprise, because she happened to be Kusanagi Mari, the proprietress of Mitsuki Teahouse and the successful aunt of the (in)famous Kusanagi Izumo.

Misaki had worked her way up the ranks in the teahouse, first being a waitress, gradually to a junior hostess who arranged and managed the entertainment, and eventually to her position now as senior hostess, in charge of managing the front desk[3]. In her beginning years when she had more regular work hours, she also took it upon herself to assist a local elementary gym teacher who was a greenhorn and was finding it rather difficult to control his students during his class. Ever since Shou was born, though, she had stopped assisting to recover from childbirth and to take care of her precious baby boy. She had never thought she'd ever hold someone so preciously…but when she held the wee, blue-haired baby in her arms, a sort of tenderness swept over her. She always worried and wanted the best for her son…which brings us to why she wanted to look her best when taking her little boy to his first day of preschool.

Quickly slipping running to the foyer of the house, she slipped on a pair of heels as Shou swung his little legs lightly. "Mama weady?" he asked timidly. At four and a half and fresh out-of-his-diapers, Yata Shou was still having a bit of trouble pronouncing words. However, he had already mastered basic, simple speech. He was also, according to his Mama, Kamamoto-jichan[4], Anna-neesan[5], and occasionally Kusanagi-jisan[6], a "carbon copy" of his Papa, whatever that meant. Shou was, however, certain that he had his mother's gold-hazel eyes. "Yes, sweetie, Mama is ready. Is Shou-chan ready for his first, ever~ day of school~?" Misaki asked her little boy playfully. "Weady!" came the enthusiastic reply, as Shou raised one arm in the air in answer. "O~k! Let's go~!" she replied cheerily as they both made their way out to the car.

It was an easy 15 minute drive to the preschool, and soon enough, they arrived. Other mothers were also there with their little ones, excited about their first day of preschool. Some children were clinging to their mothers, crying and unable to let go. Nonetheless, the sight of other children his age excited Shou, who hadn't really had much kids his age to play with. Holding his hand as they made their way to the preschool's gate, Misaki spared a glance at her son. He was so happy, and it made her glad that he didn't suffer from anxiety at being with a bunch of people. _'Thankfully, he's not like a certain person I know…'_ Looking around, she was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by a familiar voice. "Ah, Yata-san! If it isn't you…! A-and…ohh…so that's the baby that came out, huh?" she turned around to be met with Hideo-san, the teacher she had assisted before she became too pregnant to help out anymore.

"Hideo-san! Fancy seeing you here! What happened to teaching at the elementary school?" Misaki enquired, genuinely surprised. "Hahaha….w-well, you see, after you left….I realized how much I really couldn't handle the kids quite just yet. So I got a part-time here and a part-time there as well, instead of doing a full-time at the school. I was hoping exposure to younger kids would help me understand how to teach the elementary school kids better." Hideo replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. He was wearing the preschool's staff apron. "Ah, I see. Well, please do look after my Shou-chan. It's his first day here. Come on, Shou-chan, come greet your teacher…" Misaki nudged the blue-headed toddler forward, who stepped up and stared at the man curiously. "U-uhh….umm…." he was at a loss of what to say. Hideo crouched down and patted the toddler on the head. "Hello, my name is Hideo, I will be your teacher. You can call me Hideo-sensei. What's your name, young man?" he smiled gently, waiting for an answer from those curious, gold-hazel eyes.

"U-uh…my name is Shou. Yata Shou." He muttered the shy reply. "Well then, welcome to your first day of preschool, Shou-kun. Why don't we go on in, and meet everyone else? Doesn't that sound fun? Aren't you excited~?" Hideo spoke warmly, riling up Shou's curiosity as he slowly led the child into the preschool building. "O-ok…u-uhm…" Shou turned around to wave to his mother, who still stood at the gate. "Bye, Shou-chan! Have a fun day! Mama will be here to pick you up at the end of the day, ok?" she reassured the child with a smile. "Y-you promise?" he knew his mother wouldn't abandon him, but he had to ask anyway. There was just this side of him that never seemed to leave him alone: knowing the inevitable yet wanting to try anyway. "Silly! Of course Mama promises to come and get you back!" With a smile and a final wave, Misaki turned to leave. It was time for her to start another day at the Mitsuki Teahouse.

A knock on a pair of dark, mahogany wood doors roused the man at the elaborate desk from his stupor. Without looking away from his current piece of work, he answered firmly, "Enter." The doors opened, and a man in nearing his thirties approached the figure at the desk. "Sir, another incident has happened. The M.O. is the same as the previous cases that have occurred the past few weeks, and again, the target's victim matches the ones of the previous cases. We have reason to believe that this case is also perpetuated by the same strain we have been monitoring and trying to locate." Munakata looked over the report that Goto had brought to him, and sighed lightly. "I see. So I assume we will need to ask him to work as well." Goto tensed up slightly, and then responded promptly and dutifully, "Yes, sir. As this strain is extremely devious and accesses all forms of safekeeping, spending, and shelter via electronic means, his expertise must be utilized." "So it is. Thank you, Goto-kun. I shall handle the rest. You are dismissed, and free to return to your tasks."The Blue King dismissed his subordinate as he turned to look at the report once again. "Understood, sir." With a curt reply, Goto left his Captain's office.

Munakata read over the report precisely. It looked just like the reports for the past few weeks, the modus operandi was the same in all of them. He definitely needed the superior hacking skills of his vanguard and third-in-command…though technically, he was now only the third-in-command. A very sudden and abrupt change had overcome Fushimi, and he became even more withdrawn than before. In fact, he had become mentally unstable. Most of these days, he just stayed cooped up in his apartment, doing the paperwork and hacking as was assigned to him. His finished work would be picked up by a Blue clansman, and if he was hacking, his work showed whenever the other Blue clansmen were able to access new information at their headquarters. He had almost no interest in field assignments anymore one day, like the life was drained out of him. Everything he did was clearly mundane to him, and he worked like a zombie. Never stopping until his body shut down from the stress, and never taking his meals (which led to a deteriorating health). He constantly had to be hospitalized every two to three weeks of each month due to his malnutrition. Cooping him up in Scepter 4's medical facility was out of the question, as any notion to question his sanity only led to agitating the blue headed 25 year old. Other than his tendency to neglect his health and his monotone demeanour, everything about him was functional.

Seeing as he never took any action of his own anymore, he had become quite controllable for Munakata, which pleased the Blue King greatly, as mean as that sounded. Fushimi had become a perfect tool…though a tad too uncaring. As the Captain of Scepter 4, he found the current Fushimi the perfect soldier. However, as a human being, Munakata couldn't help but worry over the young man's social health. It was clear he didn't just _avoid _the world, he **hated** it, and was **so dispassionate that he couldn't even spare the effort to openly hate **at the world. Fushimi acted as if he was ready to drop dead any moment, and couldn't care less. The Blue King had tried countless ways to engage Fushimi into regular, social life again many times, but to no avail. Fushimi would just show him what he wanted to see, and then revert back to being a recluse, or worse, roll over and just accept whatever "treatment" like some half dead dog. Nonetheless, for all his apathy towards the world, Fushimi was very insistent on money. Not to spend on himself, but for whatever odd reasons unknown to Munakata, he saved up quite a lot of money. Fushimi seemed to spend very little on himself, only going to stores to get daily necessities and the occasional piece of clothing.

Although it wasn't quite confirmed, Munakata had a hunch that what brought about this devastating change was the disappearance of Homura's vanguard, "Yatagarasu", five years ago. Despite all the intellect and resources they had at their disposal, they were unable to track a single girl. Actually, scratch that. Ever since the death of the Red King, the remnants of the Red Clan had gradually disappeared within the month. Only a few remnants remained, and even they were running regular, legitimate businesses or living a peaceful, civilian lifestyle. Munakata really had to hand it to Suoh Mikoto's right hand man, Kusanagi Izumo. He certainly cloaked each member's escape well, and was cunning enough to place them far away, out of Shizume City's jurisdiction so that Scepter 4 cannot investigate. There was nothing Scepter 4 could do, procedure-wise, to take the remnant members of the Red Clan in custody, and to top it all off, they hid away the strain girl.

Anyhow, back to Munakata's hunch over the source of his third-in-command's misery. Although Fushimi had only ever shown he'd fight tooth and nail against the red vanguard, Munakata knew they had a past together. In addition, Fushimi also harboured a rather unhealthy obsession with the red vanguard…as a man, he was quite certain the true reason behind all of the younger Blue's actions. His theory was only further confirmed when, over the years, Fushimi would one day snap out of his zombie-like state and start preparing as if for some festive occasion. It always consisted of him dressing up in his best suit, carrying a very grand bouquet, and waiting the entire day at a dinky apartment. After that, he would set a sumptuous, celebratory dinner for two, even if he was the only one dining. Every year, this repeated constantly on the same day. Once, Munakata had even hired an actress to play the role of a matured red vanguard, but Fushimi saw through the disguise right away. He had even threatened Munakata not to meddle in his business with a manic look in his eyes. He knew, right there and then, that there could be no saving Fushimi-kun unless the red vanguard herself was one of the cards in his hand. Not to mention that finding her may lead to finding other remnant. So for now, Fushimi was his third-in-command assigned only to surveillance and intelligence duty and confined to working from home, and under partial surveillance.

A bell rang clear and crisp, signaling that it was "free time" for the children at the preschool. "Alright, children. It is free time now, so you guys can all go out to the playground and play~! Just make sure you all play together and share the toys~!" Hideo exclaimed happily as the children looked up at him. "Yayy~!" came a unified chorus as the children lined up to go out to the fenced area. All the children rushed out to the playground, except for a little blue haired boy. "What's wrong, Shou-kun? You don't like to play with the other children?" Hideo was on his way out to monitor the other children when he stopped by the sapphire haired child standing alone by the doorway. "No, sensei…I just don't feel very much like playing outside right now." The child hung his head. "Why ever not? Are you having trouble making friends?"the slate haired man inquired of the child. "I-I guess…you can call it that." Shou answered back nervously. He didn't really want to be called a tattletale, but what some kids said to him really left him wondering, and worrying.

"So let's here it. After all, I promised your mother I'd look after you." Hideo smiled gently as he pulled the cobalt headed boy aside so they could talk. "W-well…the other kids…they asked me about my Papa…a-and, well, all I could say was that I didn't know. Mama never said much about him, and neither did Anna-neesan, Kamamoto-jichan, or Kusanagi-jisan…!" Shou admitted nervously. "Well…maybe they also don't know…did the kids say anything after that?" Hideo pressed gently, trying to get a better idea of what was stressing out Shou-kun like so. "Uh-huh! T-they said that it was probably because my Papa didn't want me….!" At this revelation, Shou could no longer hold it in, and proceeded to burst into tears. "O-of course not! Shou-kun, your father definitely wants you! Did your Mama tell you your Papa didn't like you?" the teacher asked the child gently, careful not to strike any nerves. "N-no….." came the hesitant reply coupled with sniffles. "See? You'll never know unless you ask your Papa, right?" Hideo tried to comfort the child, hoping it would succeed. To his joy, the child put on an awkward smile. "U-uh-huh…." He nodded, his tears drying. "So…will you go out and play now? I'm pretty sure you can make friends too, since it's everyone's first day today." The slate haired teacher gently encouraged again, nudging the child to the play area.

"Okay~!" back to his chipper self, Shou ran off to the playground, and Hideo went back to monitoring the other children. After a while, Shou was happily digging in the sandbox, albeit by himself. He was still too timid to approach other children, especially after the Papa incident. Even though it was just those few boys, Shou felt it best to avoid other children for today lest the same question pops up again. As he dug and piled sand castles, a paper airplane flew towards him, crash landing into the sand. Thinking that another child might have been playing with it, he picked up the plane and looked around. No other child was looking for a plane. Inspecting the plane closely, Shou could see that a tiny black arrow was drawn on the wing, pointing to the inside of the plane. Curious, he unfolded the plane, and gasped at what was written inside.

_**Do you want to know if your Papa wants you? If you do, climb over that wall. You will be able to know, if you get over that wall. **_

There was an arrow on the paper pointing to the right, which was the outer wall of the preschool. Shou stared at it for a while, and gulped. It was a really, _really _tall wall… '_but maybe Papa sent this airplane me…he's probably back and he wants to test me!_' determined, the blue haired boy went over to the wall, where a pink stool and three cardboard boxes stood. After a little bit of thinking, he arranged the boxes and the stool to rest on the outer edge of eachother against the wall, creating a sort of staircase. It would appear that he is more than just a carbon copy of his Papa. With careful steps, Shou climbed his "staircase" carefully, one "step" at a time as he glanced around making sure no one was watching. He didn't want to be caught, this might be his only chance to see his Papa!

Eventually, the cobalt haired child made his way to the top of the wall. He glanced back one last time to make sure that no one was watching. However, before he could turn to go over the wall, rough hands had grabbed him off the wall from the other side, covering his mouth with some odd smelling cloth. He was carried off before he could even make a sound. A figure cloaked in black gloated silently as it carried the blue haired child away. Shou watched anxiously as the figure proceeded on its way, but it was hard to breathe and keep awake with the odd smelling cloth still over his nose and mouth. The last thing he saw before closing his eyes was the glint of a blue crystal dangling from the stranger's cell phone when it was making a call. It was hard to tell whether the figure was man or woman, even when he was pressed to its side.

Misaki's day was just as usual, she went about checking the records and appointments book for the teahouse. Invoices and storage records were kept to confirm that what the teahouse had ordered from various suppliers was indeed received and present. Although many teahouses did not cater to their clients, Mitsuki Teahouse had a special exception of serving their own repertoire of traditional Japanese sweets that were only available to their clientele. Seeing as how these sweets have endured even to today, it was obvious that they were unique and quite popular. As such, Misaki had to do more than the average teahouse hostess had to do. In addition to keeping stock, she also had to keep track of the appointments in a day, whether the clients had ordered sweets or arranged their own catering, and how to accommodate that. Where entertainment was also ordered, she would have to call the traditional dance schools that Mitsuki Teahouse always hired, and arrange for traditional dancers. Occasionally, she would watch the dancers prep and perform, and formed a very good relationship with them. She even got to learn a few moves out of curiosity…for the price of arranging the best room for them to perform in. Which was not that big of a deal anyway, considering they WERE the most praised.

It was the acquired grace from dancing that she was able to catch that thin card without getting a paper cut on each of her fingers, when she was hunched over the appointment books. Frowning at the rude gesture but seeing no one at the door or in the general direction of where the card flew in from, she turned it over to examine it. What she saw made her tremble.

_**We have your son. If you ever want to see him alive and well again, come to Shizume City.**_

* * *

Well, that's the end of this chapter. Who is the mysterious kidnapper!? What will happen to Shou-chan!?

I also had to make a distinction between third-in-command and vanguard, since they can be, but usually are not the same office. A vanguard is basically the foremost position in an army or fleet heading into battle. Third-in-command is a more of a stable and clear position of power.

Chapter notes

[1] Teahouse: Here I mean what is known as an _ochaya._ Despite its name, in Japanese society, teahouses do not actually serve tea or snacks. An ochaya is meant to be an elegant, private area where patrons/clients can meet and be entertained without being disturbed. As such, each teahouse only serves a select group of patrons, and no outsiders are allowed. In addition, teahouses usually do not cater, the client booking the facilities will have to arrange for a la carte catering or to direct the teahouse to arrange a catering service. The teahouse is responsible for readying the facilties (making it clean and elegant, decorating it) and arranging for traditional dancers if entertainment has been ordered. Teahouses usually have a few dancing schools or geisha houses that they typically contact for performances. In general, a teahouse can be likened to a Western banquet hall, except they do not necessarily include a catering service whereas Western banquet halls generally do.

[2] Ayumi: Not an OC. She's Kamamoto's childhood friend/girlfriend who appeared in Vol.2 chp.009 of K:Memory of Red manga. Although he looks better in his summer appearance, Ayumi has expressed that she likes Kamamoto better when he's fat.

[3] Managing the front desk: despite how this sounds like a more junior job than managing the entertainment, it is actually the opposite. Managing the entertainment only required for Misaki to look after the dancers that have come to dance, leading them to their rooms (the prep rooms and the room they are to perform in), and making sure they do not wander around. Managing the front desk, as described in the chapter, included checking over stocks (even if a teahouse doesn't cater, there are perishable substances that need to be used to maintain the teahouse), looking over appointments for the day, and coordinating the schedules of other workers (i.e. when and who cleans X and Y rooms, what decorations need to be put, etc.).

[4] –jichan, [5] –neesan, [6] – jisan: Just more polite and familiar honorifics. "-jichan" sounds younger and more familiar than 'jisan', which makes sense because Kamamoto would be the one visiting Misaki more than Kusanagi. Besides, Kamamoto would be nearing his 30's (he's older than Yata by a few years, so that leaves him at around 27 or so) in this fic, so it doesn't make sense to have him be called 'nii-san' (big brother). '-neesan' Anna would be around 15, so it makes sense for her to be called 'neesan' (although 'neechan' might be even better…'neesan' is generic for "older sister"). '-jisan' is more polite than 'jichan', although both means 'uncle'. "Ojisan", on the other hand, usually means "old man" or "grandpa" instead (used frequently by guys to refer to their father, or for Japanese people to refer to their grandfather in general). Not to be confused with 'Oujisan', which means "Prince" instead (even if the Prince is an old man).


	3. Ignite

Redemption chp.3: Ignite

Well, I thought I should do something…so, an update! I was first thinking to update Red Concubine instead, since that was not angsty.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official K Project characters, they belong to GoRa and GoHands respectively. I only own the OCs such as Mari-san, Hideo, and Shou-chan~!

In a dark, lanky warehouse, a child began to stir. Both his arms and legs were tied up, affording little mobility to him. Blinking blearily, he took in the dark and unfamiliar surroundings. There were many crates and boxes lined up around him, and the air smelled musty. "H-hello….?" Shou called out uncertainly. His tiny voice echoed out in the giant, empty warehouse. Forlorn and anxious, Shou couldn't help as tears slipped down his tiny, chubby cheeks onto the cold, hard ground. "Mama…..Papa…*sniff sniff*…come find me…!" the small child lamented as more teardrops dripped onto the ground. He didn't know how long he spent crying and lamenting for his parents to find him, but he ceased soon as he heard some muffled noises coming closer.

"K-Kusanagi-san! I-I….I don't know what to….they…Shou…!" Misaki rambled incoherently on the phone, wanting to say many things at once but not sure where to start. "Calm down, Yata-chan. Stop, stop….STOP." Kusanagi commanded firmly on the other end. Misaki stopped abruptly, and took a fe deep breaths. "Ok, once you're calm, talk." The blond man continued. "W-well…Shou has been kidnapped….! A-and they left this note that told me to go to Shizume City!" she all but wailed, the news finally out. A deep intake of breath could be heard on the other end before it was let out as a sigh. "Do you think it's….them?" Misaki asked worriedly. Knowing full well who she meant by "them", Kusanagi reassured her, "No, I don't think it's them. They wouldn't use a threat like 'if you want to see him alive and well', they are the type to simply say that they have your son. If the note tells you to go to Shizume, and not _return_ to Shizume….I assume they may not actually know you used to have any connections. It might simply be a random kidnap and ransom case." "Yeah, like that makes me feel any better." Misaki grumbled.

"At any rate, we're not sure who we're up against yet. Although it seems risky for you to return to Shizume City, I believe five years may have lightened the Blues' suspicion of us. Not like they had any way to keep tabs on us these years, anyway. I think you'd best heed that note for now, and go to Shizume City. Stay with Dewa and Chitose at the old HOMRA bar….though I'm not sure if it's still called that anymore. At any rate, stay in Shizume City until you can find out more about the person who kidnapped your son. How soon do you want to be in Shizume City? I'll make the arrangements." Kusanagi offered his advice and directions. "A-alright. I think I'll just tell Mari-san and Kamamoto…I'm really worried for Shou, do you think you can arrange for me to be back there by tonight?" the russet haired hostess asked.

"Hmm~…..it's a bit of a tight order on such short notice, but yeah, I can arrange that. Just pack your things and be ready to head back. You never know how long you might be staying in Shizume for." He let out a final piece of advice. "Yeah, I will." Misaki affirmed with Kusanagi. "Alright. I'll see you at the back entrance of Mitsuki Teahouse at 6 tonight." With that, the call ended and Misaki went to make arrangements for her leave.

As the noise became louder, it was clear that they were footsteps. Footsteps echoing on the hard ground. Shou froze as the steps stopped right in front of the doors to the warehouse he was in. With a series of agonizing creaks, the heavy doors swung open to reveal a group of armed thugs, led by who seemed to be the head thug. He was rough looking with a white spiked mane, and had an odd, tattoo-like mark on his left eye that ended in a jagged, lightning-like mark. The man sneered down at the tiny child as he neared, satisfied at the child's tear stained face. Behind him, a voluptuous woman strode confidently, something blue sparkled from her hand. Shou trembled as the man stood in front of him, his leer freezing the small child in place.

"So, it looks like the little prince has awoken, huh?" the man gloated, looking predatorily down at the small, quivering child. "W-what do you w-want….?" Shou tried to stay calm and sound commanding of the situation the way Kusanagi-jisan had told him to, but he couldn't. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~! What do I want? What do I want, he asks! Well, since you asked so politely, I guess I'll tell you…since you won't live long anyway." Still gloating, the brutish man hauled the child off the warehouse floor roughly by the scruff of his neck, like one would grab for a kitten. Shou dangled limply, shocked at what the man said. Was he really going to die here….? _'Help me, Mama~!'_ the blue haired child thought desperately as he was carried over to a monitoring platform with a lot of screens and buttons. The brute's goons trailed behind sniggering, along with the woman who followed the brute closely. She must be the second in charge here, given the way she so confidently held herself. The blue crystal dangling from her cell phone sparked ominously.

"Well, my little prince, do take a good look…" the brute continued to gloat as he placed the tied up child onto a stool before the screens, and pushed a few buttons. The screens blinked to life, automatically showing various views around Shizume City. "You see, child…we're going to have LOTS of fun together…you, your Mama, and my boys…then your Papa is going to see you and your Mama tortured and dead…. think how sad and devastated he'll be! Then we'll torture and kill him, too! After their hacking ace is gone, even the Blue Clan won't be a problem! My boys and I will storm their mansion and take them out like pigs for slaughter. Then Shizume City will be ours! Ahahahahaha~!" the brute leader let out a rough, rowdy laugh as the goons around him guffawed in unison. A small smirk began to form at the corners of the woman's mouth, but that was it. All the while, Shou's eyes widened in fear as he heard what the leader wanted to do. His mama and Papa would die! And what did Papa's death have anything to do with the Blue Clan? What is a "Blue Clan" anyway?

"Y-you…..! D-don't think that it's going to happen like you hope! My mama doesn't know I'm here, and she won't come!" Shou shouted triumphantly, though also scared. "Oh? Won't she? Why don't you look at the screens and see if she won't come and play with us~" He sneered, and directed the boy to look at the screens. Shou's little heart sank in terror as he looked at them. From various angles, it showed the main streets of Shizume City, and in each of them from one to another, showed a familiar van cruising along. In that van was a very familiar woman. A very familiar woman with long, flaming russet hair. "No! No, Mama, don't come! Don't come!" fat tears streamed down his face as he looked on with horror. _'Dear God, please don't let them find out, don't let them come…even if I have to die! They can kill me, but I hope Mama and Papa never find this place…!'_ Shou prayed in his mind frantically as he bowed his head and closed his eyes, the tears continuing to stream down his face while the warehouse rang with the crude laughter of the thugs.

Cruising along the streets of Shizume City, Misaki felt a sense of nostalgia. So much had changed, yet remained the same. Many shops and buildings had been renovated, but Misaki still recognized them. Eventually, they came to a familiar neighbourhood, and around the bend was the HOMRA bar. Or that's what it used to be called, anyway. In place of the HOMRA bar, a café by the name of Kirameki[1] stood. The muted, dark wood and red velvet theme of HOMRA bar was gone, and in its place stood a clean, black and white theme. Besides the dark wood storefront, everything on the inside was converted to a clean black and white theme. It was rather reminiscent of a chessboard. The hard black-and-white interior was somewhat softened by the red carpet on the checkered floor, and the red velvet chairs. The stately wooden bar counter remained, but was accented with a short red tablecloth and table decorations in the shape of black and white chess pieces. Decorative mini rose bushes lined the walls, and pots of them were also placed liberally along the bar counter.

"Well, it doesn't look too bad….looks like Dewa has been taking care of my bar." Kusanagi commented airily as he parked around the bend. "I-I guess…." Misaki replied as she continued to observe Kirameki Café. There was a very good atmosphere overall, and the staff were all well dressed. She briefly wondered if Dewa hadn't gotten the idea from the butler café that they had for a day when Mikoto-san was out that one day. Kusanagi-san and her waited in the back entrance, not wanting to attract attention lest any Blues or the kidnappers were waiting around. The back door opened and two familiar figures stepped out to greet them. It was Chitose and Dewa, both wearing barista aprons over their butler-like coats. "Kusanagi-san, Yata-chan! Welcome back~! And say, did you get lovelier over the years, Yata-chan?" Chitose greeted, ever the flirt. "Ah ha ha ha. I guess motherhood does that to a woman sometimes." Yata replied in a roundabout manner, her hostess training kicking in. Chitose stopped for a moment, a bit surprised at not having been mauled. "Ah, they must be tired from their journey. Move your ass and help me get their stuff up, freeloader!" Dewa intervened, grabbing hold of Misaki's bags and heading up the stairs. "Oww~! Why do you always have to be so mean, Masa-chaaaaaaaaaaaaan~!" Chitose whined, earning him a shoe to the face.

After they had settled Misaki's stuff in one of the upper guest rooms, the four of them sat down in a private room upstairs, with Chitose going back and forth for refreshments. Kusanagi-san had told them basically what had happened over the phone. "So Shou-chan has been kidnapped, huh?" Dewa asked, concerned. Although he had never seen the child before, Yata-chan was still his friend, and any child of his friend's, was also someone he was bound to look after. "Y-yeah…and all they left was this…." She didn't really want to recall how her heart had stopped at that moment. She had thought it was a prank, so she rushed to the preschool where Shou was, and to Hideo's and her horror, he really was missing. Hideo had apologized profusely over his oversight, and had even allowed Mari-san and her to check all the security cameras. They were unable to get any footage of any suspicious people entering the preschool. They had only been able to catch a glimpse of a pair of hands pulling Shou off the preschool entrance's wall. Then she phoned Kusanagi-san, who gave her his advice as it was, and here they find themselves in Shizume again. Reluctantly, she pulled out the card she had received.

"Mm-hmm…." Both Chitose and Dewa leaned their heads together to inspect the black card. It was plain except for the message, bent like cardstock, but was surprisingly durable with an equally surprising sharp edge. If anything, this card seemed more to be made from metal than actual cardstock. Flipping over the card, they frowned at the symbol on the back. It was a grayish-silver imprint, with a rainbow laser overlay[2]. The logo was in the shape of a bounding tiger with a curiously jagged, lightning-like tail. "You two recognize the symbol?" Kusanagi sprung, taking note of their frowns. "Hmm….I could have sworn I've seen this symbol somewhere around, but I can't exactly recall where…" Chitose muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Same here. I've been seeing this symbol in and out…you suppose it has anything to do with our customers?" Dewa asked his freeloading partner. "Possibly…or it could actually be just the people from my university who also happens to sometimes chill here…" Chitose supplied after some thinking. "Great. That really helps narrow down possible suspects." Dewa muttered, rather disgruntled.

Before Chitose could come back with a smart reply, a waiter had dashed upstairs and asked that both of them help out downstairs immediately, as there was a huge boom of customers for the lunch rush hour. Excusing themselves, they went downstairs, but not before promising to speak to them further about the logo and their suspicions. Hurriedly grabbing a round serving tray, Dewa hurriedly placed the drinks onto his tray, absentmindedly dropping the card on his tray as he carried the drinks to their tables. "Here are your orders, ladies~" Dewa put on his professional smile, only to wipe it off slightly as he looked at whom he had served the drinks to. It was none other than the Lieutenant of the Blues, or the Tundra Woman, as she was called. Plus a few other females…but none of them at the table were in the Blues uniform, so he couldn't tell until he had brought their drinks to the table. He quickly put down the drinks and turned away, until he was suddenly grabbed by the second in command of the Scepter 4. "I believe you may have to wait a moment, Dewa Masaomi-kun." Her steely tone cut through, glaring at the table top.

'_Oh shit.'_ In a split second, he had realized what had happened. In his haste to avoid the Tundra Woman, he had forgotten that he had put the card on his tray, which has been flipped onto the table. Which was currently being glared at by said woman who has a vicegrip on his wrist. Not one to let his buddy fall on his own in a pinch, Chitose rushed up to help. "Dear customer, whatever seems to be the problem? I'm certain whatever it is can be resolved amicably, there's no need for force. It will scare the rest of our patrons, who are **innocent civilians like us**." he offered up with a professional smile, but his words were anything but welcoming as he gripped the Tundra Woman's wrist, attempting to pull her grip off of his partner. "Oh? Innocent? I hardly call it innocent when you drop an obvious connection between yourselves and a terrorist group." Awashima replied in a steely cold tone as she picked up the card. "Terrorist group? Now wait right here, Ms. Awashima. We may look like nothing but a bunch of gangsters to you from our Red Clan days, but I think it's rather sore of you to try pinning any crime you can at us just because you couldn't find any damning proof when you first searched our establishment!" Dewa snapped. The Blues have been doggedly trying to investigate the establishment once Kusanagi left, and as he predicted, they found nothing to convict anyone for. Still, the Blues continued to stick around once in a while, trying to investigate this or that. Of course, they always turned out emptyhanded. Kusanagi-san had told them to lay low, so they haven't done anything except lead very honest, civilian lives.

"I assure you I am not making anything up. Nor have we been biased in our investigations. I do indeed have solid proof of this terrorist group which you have shown yourselves to be a part of." Awashima continued in her steely tone, opening up a business envelop and taking out a stack of papers. It was a profile report of Clear Fang, the strain-composed terrorist group that was recently causing trouble for Shizume City, and currently a top priority case for the Blue Clan. "This is the profile of a terrorist group called Clear Fang, and this is their logo. Recognize it? You should, it's on your card as well." Awashima spoke pointedly. "No, I do not recognize it because I am not a part of this terrorist group which you guys are just bringing to my attention. In addition, before you start drawing conclusions that I am part of a terrorist group just because I dropped something with their logo, I suggest you look at the other side of the card." Dewa replied calmly, staring down the second in command. Deciding to humour the brat before arresting him for good, Awashima turned the card around, and read the message, her eyes widening.

"You have no children." She stated, staring up stonily at the two young businessmen. "Indeed we do not." Chitose butted in with a smug smile, confident that the Blues had once again accused them wrongly. "I can only say that you have stooped to a new low. To involve children in your ploys this time! Have these two men put under arrest!" She called out, where non-uniformed Blue clansmen who were blending in, suddenly sprang up and easily cuffed the two waiters. "Speak. Who did you plan to blackmail with this malicious card?" Awashima interrogated Dewa right off the bat, not caring for the civilians who were startled and stared fearfully. Before either of them could reply, a voice spoke out from the bar counter. "Oh, if it isn't Seri-chan! Still threatening people like always~ do you still visit often? I have to say, they probably don't serve your favourite drink anymore…do you still come by because you miss me~? Kusanagi spoke cheerfully as Awashima's eyes widened in shock. "Kusanagi Izumo! Men, take custody of that man as well! He is a wanted suspect in the disappearance of the strain girl Kushina Anna." She ordered, and as before, the Blue clansmen moved quickly to the bar, but was unable to detain the blond man without some burns. "Kusanagi-san! Are you alr-" Misaki began to feel uneasy at the loud noise from below, so she ventured down to the café, in time to witness all three of her comrades being arrested by the Blues.

"What the heck, you shitty Blues!" All hostess training out the window at the sight of her friends being so mistreated, Misaki flared up her red flames. It was true, they were no longer as strong as they had been before, but the sight of the flames were still something to strike fear with. Again, Awashima was stunned at the amount of Red clansmen she saw again today. It was the one who could probably fix Fushimi-kun! Before she could react, however, a blur of red darted by, and the card was out of her hands. "Let Kusanagi-san and them go! They haven't done anything wrong! This card is mine! They have nothing to do with anything, y'hear!?" Misaki growled out fiercely. "I'm afraid I cannot do that. Kusanagi Izumo is wanted by us for the disappearance of Kushina Anna. Although you say the card is yours, it has been circulated in this café, which is jointly owned by Dewa Masaomi and Chitose You. This makes them accomplices to whatever you happened to be planning for the terrorist group Clear Fang. Since you claim to be the owner of that card, I take it you are affiliated with the terrorist group. Therefore, you are to submit now and come with us into custody, or we will employ force for your compliance." Awashima explained, full of authority.

"Hmph. Just to set the record straight, I'm not affiliated with any kind of terrorist group. This was sent to me, I'm the victim here! They were only trying to help me figure things out, while you Blues police do nothing but get in the way. You say all that, but you forget that there is no proof right now for you to put them in jail. The only thing you have to go on is this card. If you don't order your men to let them go, I will burn this card with my flames, and you can forget about any more leads for whatever you're investigating." Misaki threatened, holding the card in between her fingers, aura flaring threateningly. "If you are indeed the victim as you say you are, then you should peacefully come with us for investigation, not defending possible suspects." Awashima tried to reason coolly. "I told you! I'm the victim here! I came to these guys for help! That means, they're NOT INVOLVED! Do you get it? If you cannot rest without bringing one person back, then bring me! But don't you dare lay another finger on anyone else! Remember, you have no solid proof to take away anyone here…and the public is watching." Misaki was done with any sort of negotiation. They were either going to have to take it as it is or she'll burn this card, and find ways to save her son on her own. The Blues were never any help, anyway.

Awashima really hated to admit it, but Yatagarasu was right. There really is no solid proof, they only suspect that Kusanagi Izumo is related to Kushina Anna's disappearance. However, more pressing matters are at hand, and they finally have a lead! Grudgingly, Awashima replied, "…Very well, Yatagarasu. We accept your conditions, now please come peacefully with us." the blonde lieutenant replied in a professional manner. "Yata-chan-" Kusanagi began, but Misaki held up a hand to silence him. "I'll be fine, don't worry, Kusanagi-san. I've got this." She flashed a quick smile before heading over to the group of Blues waiting. Meanwhile, with a knowing look, Dewa and Chitose went to calm down the customers who were bothered by the commotion. Somewhat satisfied, Awashima and the Blue clansmen escorted Misaki back to Scepter 4 headquarters.

Misaki grumbled lightly as she was led through the halls of the dimly lit mansion, that place hadn't changed in the years she was gone. Still as depressing as ever, and still as lacking in life…and _he_ was there. She REALLY didn't want to see him…not at this time. She held her breath as she was marched through the halls, each corner she expected him to pop out in his creepy way and start teasing her, telling her how dumb she was to let him take her like that, how gullible and easy she was. To her surprise, there was no creepy Scepter 4 third in command popping out to harass her. She had made it to the Blue King's office silently, only enduring some stares of shock from some blue clansmen. That didn't really bother her, though, since she was used to discriminatory glances. What nagged at her was the lack of him…did she really matter so little to him? After that…that one week, she hadn't heard from him at all… _'Maybe that's really all you are to him, Misaki…a dumb broad that he easily took to bed, had fun with, and discarded once he was done using….' _Misaki thought bitterly.

Pushing the need to cry deep down, she followed the blonde woman into the Blue King's office. "Captain, I have brought someone who may be of extreme help to us." she interrupted the spectacled man, who was currently too absorbed with the report before him to look up. "Very well, Awashima-kun. You may exit." He finally looked up, and a flash of surprise crossed his face before he settled back into his professional mask. "It has been a while, Yatagarasu. Or should I say, Yata Misaki-san. Please have a seat." He motioned to the chairs in front of his desk. Glaring silently, Misaki sat down, her eyes trained on the Blue King. "Awashima-kun mentioned that you may be of help to us. Can you please elaborate further on what you can do for us?" he inquired with a slight smile tugging at his lips. "I don't. She assumed I did." She spat back. It wasn't like she volunteered. The Tundra Woman was the one looking for leads on this group who also had her Shou-chan.

"Oh? So you know nothing about the terrorist group that has been terrorizing Shizume City lately? Clear Fang?" Munakata held up the first page of the report he was looking at, which showed the Clear Fang logo as an exhibit. She glared back at the picture, and gripped the card in her hand tightly. "No. I don't know about any terrorist group or Clear Fang, or whatever they're called. All I know is that they have the balls to send me this!" She slapped the card down on the fine wooden desk. Then she sat back down, ,seething quietly. Intrigued, Munakata picked up the black card, and examined it, gasping lightly at the message written at the back. "Yata-kun…you have a child?" Munakata inquired. She may yet be of more use than she thought. "Y-yeah. What of it? You gonna judge?" she asked grudgingly. "I will not be inquiring into your private business. However, I have a way to recover your child for you." Munakata baited. "R-really!? What do you have in mind?" Misaki sprang up, hanging onto every word. Satisfied that his bait was working, Munakata continued.

"Since you are also targeted by Clear Fang, we will monitor any transmissions to you from them. We can investigate this, and when the time is ripe, we will go and rescue your son. However, I would like for you to actively be a part of this investigation." Munakata explained, staring intently at the chesnut headed woman. "What do you mean by that?" Misaki asked a bit uneasily. She did not want to have to see _him_ all the time. Her look of disgust was apparent, and Munakata began thinking up of reasons to have her stay. To have her as another wild card in his hand would win him back his third-in-command…and it might even solidify his loyalty to them. Besides, they will also be able to investigate Clear Fang…two birds with one stone if she becomes one of his cards. "I am saying, Yata-kun, that I would appreciate your efforts if you will sign up with us and act as deputy third in command and vanguard." He tried. "W-what do you mean? Isn't that Saru's job!?" Misaki exclaimed, shocked at Munakata's proposition. "Our third in command has…met with a bit of difficulty in his private life five years ago. Unfortunately, he is not in a condition to actively serve with us. He is currently on home rest and simply serves as surveillance." Munakata supplied as an answer.

"W-wha-?" Misaki could only stutter, unable to believe what she heard. Saru is on home rest? Difficulty in life? What sort of problem did he run into? "Yes. We are currently missing an active third in command. I remember that you and Fushimi-kun's skills in the field are evenly matched, so I feel that you may be a good fit as a temporary third in command." Munakata continued on. "But I'm not smart or uppity like you people, I can't pass that test you guys have to write." Misaki replied, worried. She really didn't feel like she fit in with the Blues, and she also didn't really see herself being a part of them. "That is alright. I said Fushimi-kun does not serve actively, but all information is still processed by him. What I need you to do is to plan and lead investigations in field, it's what you do well at, isn't it?" Munakata reassured, hoping that the redhead would accept the proposition. "Damn straight I can lead an expedition! But as far as I see it, there really isn't anything in it for me. If it is about rescuing my son, I would do that with or without your help anyway." Misaki frowned. Although the Blue King had his points, she was not to be fooled.

"Although they can be true, I assure you we are quite efficient at conducting investigations. Maybe you could rescue your child on your own, but how long would that take on your own efforts? If you joined us, you would have all of Fushimi's subordinates to help, not to mention that you would be able to use all our technology. In addition, you will be able to investigate things normal civilians do not have the power to. Of course, as a Scepter 4 officer, we will give you a generous pay stub as well. I can also arrange to have you move into the dorm…think about this, Yata-kun. It is quite a generous offer." The blueheaded King continued to cajole. "Hmph. Material wealth doesn't really appeal to me. As long as it's got a roof, I can survive in any shelter. I'm not Yatagarasu for nothing, I can survive. I can investigate too, even if I have to sneak in to do it. So no, your proposition does not really offer me as much as you think it does. Let's get to the main point instead. I know there is something you want me to do besides investigation on Clear Fang. It's about Saru, isn't it?" Misaki challenged directly.

"You're more perceptive than I thought…and quite brazenly honest. I find that refreshing." Munakata commented. No wonder she was Suoh's vanguard. Very blunt, just like the previous Red King. "Thanks. Now are you going to answer my question or are we going to just sit here and waste time?" she asked, her patience running thin. "Ah, that. Yes. To be quite frank, I am hoping that during your time as deputy third in command, you can successfully rehabilitate Fushimi-kun back into his role as third in command. After that, you may remain in your post as deputy third, or should your son be recovered, you may leave Scepter 4." Reisi really saw no point in being conniving or lying at this point. Yata Misaki has shown that she is a very straight to the point person. "So that's what this is all about. You need me to get Saru back? How is that even effective? How would I be able to get him back!?" Misaki was all but ticked off. They were clearly asking for the impossible. "I am certain that were you interact with him, you will see that you are quite vital to his rehabilitation. Please do consider my offer. If there is something lacking in the conditions, please do not be afraid to make them known. I will do all in my power to accommodate them, should you accept my proposition." Munakata continued to press, staring eagerly at the redhead.

"….There is one. I will agree to all your conditions if you agree not to pursue any of the Red Clansmen any more. Do this on paper, signed and sealed, and I will agree to all of your conditions immediately." Misaki said finally. Although she could do all of this on her own, the Blue King did make his argument well. She would be able to save her baby faster if she had power at her disposal. Power to make most people give way. Munakata became silent for a moment. Yata Misaki was his lead to the strain girl, Anna. However, a lot could also be gained if she did become one of his cards. He certainly had to give credit to the redhead…Yatagarasu did know how to drive a hard bargain. Was one strain worth risking the health of his third in command, and a terrorist strain group? Deciding that it wasn't, and that Kushina Anna would soon reach the age of majority and cannot be taken into custody long enough to conduct good study on, Munakata nodded in agreement. "Very well, Yata-kun. I accept that condition. Let me prepare all the paperwork, if you will give me a moment." He reached into his desk and pulled out an application packet, flipping through a few pages, signing and stamping them. He then pushed it aside and began typing on the desktop. Quickly done, he printed it out, signed it, and stamped it. "I give you my word that none of the Red Clansmen will ever be investigated or pursued by Scepter 4. This becomes effective as soon as you sign our contract."

He pushed the packet he had stamped towards the redhead, withholding the printed document in his other hand. He observed carefully as she signed every page, and when she was done, he handed over his promise on paper. "Welcome to Scepter 4, Yata-kun." With that, he stretched out his hand, and Misaki shook it. Instantly, energy flooded into her, calm and constant, but rippling with power. Looking down, she realized that she was flaring with a blue aura, signifying her covenant with the Blue King. "You will start next Monday, report here at 08:00 hours. We will have you measured for your uniform, and provide you with the general issues. Have all our personal belongings with you, as we will also be assigning you to a dorm room." Munakata instructed. Monday. That gave her a full week to collect what had happened and to break it to the guys. Nodding mutely, she turned to leave, but was stopped by Munakata once more.

"Ah, Yata-kun? May I see a picture of your son, if it is possible? I would like members of Scepter 4 to be alerted to any presence of your child, should he be seen in Shizume City." Munakata explained. He was a man of his word, and when he said she could recover her child faster, he certainly meant to fulfill that. "Well, you are my King for now, all you have to do is command it. Please return it to me after you've looked, though. It's the only coloured picture of him I have on me." Misaki replied flatly, and produced a colour photo of Shou-chan. Munakata nodded, and took the photo. Upon seeing it, his mouth opened in surprise. _Well_. He may have acquired a bigger wild card than he imagined. Save for the golden-hazel eyes that clearly belonged to Yata-kun, the child was a carbon copy of Fushimi-kun.

And there it is! It is finally out of the bag! Misaki will be joining Scepter 4! "Deputy" third in command, meaning she is appointed to do the tasks of a third in command because the official third is off his rocker. Too off his rocker to actually carry out his duties fully. Will Saru return to work,now that his waifu is there as well!? Who knows… well, let's just hope he does!

Chapter notes

[1] Kirameki Café: "Kirameki" roughly means "glow" or "spark", which I felt was fitting for temporary HOMRA bar. They're hoping to build the Red Clan back up again, so yeah.

[2] rainbow laser overlay: the rainbow, prism-y holographic effect that you get with some collector cards, or with some types of foil wrapping paper.


	4. Smoldering flame

Redemption chp. 4: Smoldering flame

Well, since I'm (sort of) on a roll, I figured I should keep going at it ….stories always end up being longer than I had planned for them to be. =.=;; I need to stop jamming in all the details…

Well, enough of my griping, onto the story!

Warning: Implied Dewa x Chitose, dirty talk, and OOC Yata (rather self-blamey and a bit crybabyish)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official characters or plot, they belong to GoRa and GoHands respectively. I only own the OCs, like Mari-san, Hideo, Shou-chan, and now Clear Fang!

* * *

Munakata did a doubletake in his mind at what he was seeing. The photo was clearly the child of Fushimi-kun, no doubt. Having Yata Misaki sign up with them was more vital than he thought. Not only would her presence shake the third in command out of his miserable state, but if his guess was correct, Fushimi-kun would also devote himself to this investigation if he knew who was at stake here. "Thank you, Yata-kun. I will make a colour copy of this and distribute it to the rest of Scepter 4 so that they may be on the alert." With that said, Munakata proceeded to scan the photo, and then returned the hard copy to the redheaded woman. "If there's nothing else that needs to be done, I'll be going to pack my things." "Thank you, Yata-kun. You may go now, I shall see you at 08:00 hours next Monday. Until then, have a good week." Munatakata replied courteously. Although she was rather rough around the edges and didn't have the cleanest language, he was surprised at how easily she took to being commanded. He had initially thought she would be absolutely ungovernable, but this new facet of hers calmed his fears somewhat.

Mind made up about the new recruit, he buzzed for Awashima to tell her of the recent news. _'Oh god…how am I supposed to tell them that I joined Scepter 4!? What if Kusanagi-san thinks I don't trust his abilities and everyone because I signed up with the Blues!? Oh my gosh, I'm worse than Saru! Betraying them again and again like this….I don't deserve their help….that time with Saru…and even then I lied! Now this….I'm the worst!'_ Misaki thought miserably as she trudged her way baack to Kirameki. "Yo…I'm back." She called out flatly, as Chitose, Dewa, and Kusanagi looked up. After the fiasco, Chitose and Dewa closed the café in case Misaki would ever need rescuing.

"Yata-chan, are you alright? The Blues didn't do anything to you, did they!?" Chitose was the first to speak up. All three of them looked at the redhead, concerned. "Oh! Umm, no worries. I settled things with them! They on't ever bother you anymore, so don't worry!" Yata tried to reassure her ex-clansmen with false cheer, but nothing ever escapes Suoh Mikoto's right hand man, Kusanagi. He saw straight through the false cheer. "That's all and well, Yata-chan, but at what price? What did they make you do in return? Knowing the Blues, they won't withdraw so easily. So, speak. Don't tell me all they wanted was the ransom card and what you knew." The blond man pressed. "Umm, well, they just want me to help out with them for a bit…it's a small price to pay if they'll leave you guys alone! Man, they sure don't know how to make deals, hahaha!" Misaki tried to laught it off, but none of them were fooled.

"Be honest, Yata-chan. They made you join them, didn't they? It's about Fushimi, isn't it?" Dewa interrogated in a steely tone. The shocked look on the chestnut headed woman's face affirmed his guess. "You….you know about Saruhiko, Dewa?" Misaki gasped, shocked. She thought it was only the Blues who knew! "Yeah. After you left, they jumped to arrest us, and it was strange that they also threw in allegations of us doing things to Fushimi. That's how we knew something happened to him a few days after you went into hiding. We didn't want to tell you then since you were pregnant after what that bastard did…" Kusanagi said wearily. "Oh…." Misaki bowed her head down. _'Guess it's all out of the bag now…'_ she thought. "Tch. Those bastards…there's nothing they won't do and no one they wouldn't sacrifice to achieve their ends! Now they'll even stoop to protecting a rapist, AND sacrificing the victim to him for more ruin! That's it, I've had it with the Blues! I'm gonna—" Chitose ranted out angrily and leapt out of his chair, but was stopped by a frantic Yata.

"No, please-! Just listen to me, all of you! I'm so sorry for everything! I'm such a terrible person, I don't deserve your help…!" Misaki couldn't take it anymore. This was all happening because she had lied in a moment of weakness, all those years ago. Surprised, Chitose sat back down, Dewa and Kusanagi looked at the chestnut haired woman. "What do you mean, Yata-chan?" Kusanagi inquired further, confused and concerned at Misaki's reaction to Chitose's outburst. "I…I'm sorry I lied. Five years ago, before I left Shizume City…remember that one week I went missing?" she paused to survey the reaction of the three men. They nodded grimly for her to continue.

"Well, you all know what happened during that one week…except, I lied about it. I'm sorry, but back then, I couldn't admit that I betrayed Homura, no matter how good it felt! After that mission with those punks… I remember beating them up, and it was raining ad stuff…but then it suddenly became really dark. And cold….so dark, cold, and alone. I thought I had died, but then there was this warmth, and when I opened my eyes, Saruhiko was there. He was so gentle, taking such good care of me…I don't know how or why, but every touch felt so good. I became greedy, and…and I wanted more. I…I became his personal slut that week…and now, because I didn't have the guts to just admit it, Saru is sick and you guys are still helping a traitor and a whore like me…" tears had begun to run down her cheeks as she recounted her tale, as the three men looked at her with slight surprise. They seemed to be taking this better than she thought they would.

After a moment of silence, a sigh was heard from the blond man. "Yata-chan, we would never think of you as a traitor for loving Fushimi. We all knew it was coming, we just…didn't expect you guys would hit third base right off the bat…but anyway, we still won't think of you as a traitor for that. You've down enough to show you were genuine to Homura." Kusanagi reassured her, giving the sniffling girl a pat on the back. "Yeah, it's not like you went and did something humiliating like wear an obscene outfit and call him Master while doing whatever he wanted…now _that's_ real slutty." Chitose chimed in, hoping to alleviate the amount of guilt for the crow, only to stop when Misaki grew silent with her head bowed. "W-wait…you did, didn't you?" he asked, afraid of the answer Misaki would give. His fear was confirmed when the girl's cheeks flushed red and she nodded mutely. "Dumbass! This is Fushimi we're talking about, of course he's going to have some possessive kink!" Dewa hissed as he elbowed Chitose for being so insensitive.

"Hahaha, well, which man doesn't like being showered with attention from the woman he loves? Especially Fushimi, since he's such a possessive wad. I wouldn't put it past him to ask you to do this, it's totally expected. Being possessive is a normal thing between couples! It…it shows he really, really cares! See, at least he's not making a sport of it by making you wear 'playful' costumes!" Dewa quickly jumped in, hoping to get her mind off of feeling guilty. "Umm…would you say he's still making a sport of us if he participated as well…?" Yata asked uncertainly. "Uhh….oh, well, it's still pretty normal to cosplay as a doctor so he can give you, his nurse, a thorough body examina-" Dewa tried to rescue the conversation and steer it back to a more appropriate topic, but was interrupted again by a seriously concerned Yata. "No, we didn't dress up as doctor and nurse. It was magician and apprentice." She deadpanned honestly. She was seriously starting to get worried about whether what she had with Saruhiko was a fling or not. "Uhh….w-well, y'see…" Dewa trailed off, trying to think of something to say. Well, this was certainly different. Chitose made a mental note to ask Yata for details later…this cosplay idea seemed fairly new, and he'd love to try it with Masa-chan sometime.

Thankfully, Dewa was saved by Kusanagi's intervention. "Regardless of what you two prefer to do in your…uh…intimate time, can you honestly say you wouldn't mind doing everything that you did with Fushimi with another man? Are you willing to do that in public, even, with lots of people watching?" "What!? NO! Saru's the only one I'd ever do those things with!" Misaki exclaimed, face red and arms crossed over her chest protectively. "There, see? You're not the slutty whore you think you are. A true whore would have no problem doing those things with anyone, and maybe even in public. Rather, I would say you're more in love with Fushimi than you think. You love him enough to put aside your pride in order to make him happy. I'd say that's pretty big, knowing you. It took you two idiots long enough to get together." Kusanagi explained with a smirk.

"Really? I mean, how the hell would I know!? He never said anything like he loved me or anything…a-and besides, he should have contacted me after t-that week…but he didn't! So clearly…" Misaki trailed off, hoping her implication was understood. "So clearly he was trying to give you space. I mean, even when he was with us, he always kept himself away because he wanted to give you space instead of just dragging you away." Dewa finished off matter-of-factly. "Took you guys long enough. I mean, it was pretty painful to watch you guys flit about, but never getting together. You two were so obvious, even blind people could see you were in love." Chitose chimed in. "What!? Even you think so!?" Misaki was shocked at how certain they are at her lovelife…more than she herself was. "You guys weren't exactly subtle about the sexual tension." Came the unanimous reply from all three. "So…you guys won't blame me for joining the Blues…?" "I can't speak for the team, but I don't hold it against you, just like I never held it against Fushimi. If any of the guys have a grudge because of your circumstance, I'm definitely backing you up, no matter who it is." Kusanagi replied sagely. It's true, he can't control it if other Homura members would view Yata's change as betrayal, but he knew she didn't do it because she felt like it. Circumstances required it, and even if they don't agree, he'd still support the crow.

"Well, if Kusanagai-san backs you up, who am I to go against you for it? I know you're doing this to save your baby boy, and once you do, remember to let us see him!" Dewa added supportively. "I wouldn't say no when the two of them said yes…after all, this is a trial of true love! And I, as the protector of love, support you on your quest~!" Chitose finished with a dramatic flair. "T-thanks, guys.." Misaki replied gratefully. She had expected them to condemn her as a traitor. "So, getting back to the topic at hand…you have joined Scepter 4, so I take it you'll have to move in to their dorm? When will that happen? Are you ok sharing the same roof with Fushimi?" Kusanagi brought the conversation back on topic easily. "Oh…I have to be there with all of my stuff at 8am next Monday. I…I still don't know about living in the same building as Saru…but he hasn't shown himself at all during the time that I was there, so I guess his personal problem has made him an introvert…?" Misaki answered, somewhat concerned for Saruhiko's wellbeing. "Oh…a week…well, don't worry. That's plenty of time, and once you're there, I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's wrong with him. If the people there give you any problems, you can always give us a call and come back here. We'll always back you up." Kusanagi reassured, with nods from Dewa and Chitose. "O-ok, I will…thanks again, you guys." She smiled gratefully, holding the three men in a group hug.

A week rolled by faster than the blink of an eye, and Misaki found herself at the mansion of the Blues with all her stuff packed in a bag, waiting at the lobby regardless of the curious glances of various blue clansmen. Her long, copper hair was tied up in a neat, high ponytail which flared out in spikes at the ends naturally. She had on her black tanktop from before, coupled with a red leather jacket, and dark green biker shorts. Her wait ended when Munakata and Awashima greeted her in the lobby and hauled her off to the interview quarters. A short overview of the Scepter 4 building later, Misaki was led to the dorms, where Awashima showed her to her assigned room. It was right across the hall from her, and as there weren't many females in Scepter 4. She didn't have to share with anyone, but because there were not a lot of female officers in the whole of Scepter 4, so there really isn't a Female Wing in the dormitories. The current female dorm was a section of the whole dormitory that was partitioned off by glass wall and a digital lock from the rest.

After she had settled her things in her room, she was led back to the lobby, where she was marched off to the recruitment center. There, she was measured to have a uniform made for her, and she also underwent a formal, videotaped interview/ "statement/pledge of service" where she had to explain why she was motivated to join Scepter 4. It was stupid in her opinion, since they knew full well the reason for why she joined. However, Munakata had assured her that any and every blue clansmen went through this, and she was no exception. Not that she was expecting to be exempted, anyway. Thankfully, the Blue King had foreseen that and wrote a script for her in case she ever felt she needed it…since saying "I joined Scepter 4 just to save my son who has been kidnapped by strains, otherwise I would never be here" sounded very undedicated and rude. Which really shouldn't be said when she was already exempt from the test.

Next, she was taken to a training ground and told to execute a variety of kicks, punches, and jumps on preset targets. Which she excelled at, and had a good time punching and kicking. It had been so long since she had last been in a brawl, and she did miss being allowed to kick ass. There was also a free-for-all against armed robots to test her skills in handling a fight, which she also passed quite well. After that, a good portion of the day was already gone. Munakata dismissed her and gave her the rest of the day off, which she promptly used to contact the Homura remnants and tell them about how it all went. Except for the blues who were part of the Special Forces, the rest of the blue clansmen treated her amicably. The Special Forces being the ones who often clashed against Homura, they were still very sore and gave her discriminatory looks.

All in all, her first day went by not too bad…Awashima was frosty as ever, Munakata formally polite but unabashedly invading personal space, and the rest of the Scepter 4 Special Forces either giving dirty looks, whispering behind her, or was too afraid to actually be friendly with her. The first to freak out were Domyouji and Hidaka, who were energetically loud and pointed wildly…though they quickly shut up with a good glare from her. The next day, she was woken up early to begin the day, which took a little bit of getting used to. Nonetheless, she did as others did, and was surprised to find that her custom deputy third in command uniform was already placed on her bed, along with a saber. Her uniform consisted of a white tank top much like her old ones, a blue-grey under bust corset, and dark blue shorts with garter straps that (needlessly) held up her thigh high socks. She didn't actually see a point in the garter straps, but it was either this or a short skirt similar to Awashima's. Munakata had insisted that a strict protocol for female uniforms to be adhered to by female members, because the law is the law, and rules are rules. Over this she wore her deputy third coat, which was basically a modified officer's coat. She figured she wouldn't be around for long to need an actual custom uniform from scratch the way Awashima and Saruhiko had, although Munakata had insisted that she choose a design.

Her coat was like any other officer's, except the front hem dipped into a 'W' like the bottom of a waistcoat. There was also an additional white rim bordering the black stripe where the coat opens and closes, much like Saruhiko's coat. Instead of wearing it closed, Misaki wore her coat open, and her ensemble underneath was seen quite clearly. By her hip hung a standard issue blue saber, whose name was, fittingly, Karasuki[1]. Through breakfast, she kept on hearing sniggering comments, mainly from Hidaka and Domyouji. She was met with silent, judging glares from Goto and Akiyama. Enomoto, Kamo, and a few lesser known individuals were the only ones who didn't say anything unpleasant or cast her unwelcoming looks. However, they still avoided her, and avoided her eyes, though Kamo tried to talk to her a bit. Awashima stayed close to her, still rather untrusting of her as of yet. Not that she cared. In the afternoon, Munakata called for a Special Forces meeting, and finally explained the situation, regarding new leads on Clear Fang and Misaki's role in it. They were still very untrusting of the redhead, and ridicule only mounted when they found out that she had a child and is a single mother…until they saw a picture of the child and pieces began to snap together.

Domyouji and Hidaka refrained from letting her hear their rude remarks when she was near, but it was still quite obvious that they harboured less than amicable feelings towards her. Enomoto was kinder, and still tried to start conversation, which Misaki returned with pleasant but short answers, shocking Enomoto, Hidaka, and Domyoji. Enomoto had expected the fierce girl to snap back at him or to simply ignore him coldly. After all, he was so plain and nerdy…but he was pleasantly surprised at her friendly but clipped reply. Hidaka and Domyouji were flat out shocked. They expected the ex-red clanswoman to start spurting fire and raise hell, not a civil reply. Her day continued on, but as she interacted with more Scepter 4 members, the better they seemed to be to her. Hidaka and Domyouji in particular, were quite quick to be on chatting terms when the idea of teamwork came up in dividing the workload. While they were the more rash ones, they shared the same passion for comrades the same way the crow did, and not surprisingly, their thoughts were pretty similar.

Meanwhile, Munakata sat back and heaved a sigh of relief. He had been watching through the security cameras, and was once again surprised at how Misaki was fitting in quite nicely. _'Definitely a difference from Fushimi.'_ He thought as he put together the finishing touches on a package he was working on. It was to be sent to a certain blue-black haired officer who was currently on house rest. He smiled as the disc popped out of the computer, assuring him that Misaki's recorded interview was copied onto it. Munakata carefully took it out and placed it inside a case, then put it on top of the stacks of paper he had before him: a copy of Yata Misaki's application papers (including role and duties), an overview of the mission at hand (all data about Clear Fang and the recent changes), and a colour copy photo of the victim that needed rescuing. As a final flourish, Munakata decided to slip in a hand written notice as incentive. Satisfied with the compilation, he slipped it all into a business envelop package and sent it to the other subordinates to be delivered to Fushimi.

Sitting at his desk near the window as sunlight streamed in, another blue haired officer wrote in a notebook diligently, taking all cares to put in as much detail, and to make it as realistic as possible. He had finished hacking into the bank databases like he was told, and nothing was out of the usual…at least, as far as his surveillance screens showed. Having stagnant work, Fushimi Saruhiko, aged 25, turned back to writing in his notebook with a slight smile on his face. Although it was a somewhat pained smile. Beside him on the desk was a picture album, inside it were many shots of the same places, though at different times and always devoid of people. Beneath them were detailed captions and explanations. To anyone, this album would seem very random, for they included places like a seat at the kitchen table, a lavishly set up table, a bakery nearby, a preschool's entrance, and the like. Just random places around the city. The captions underneath each picture was extremely detailed.

Happily, as if in a daze, he wrote with reverie in the notebook. Page after page after page, glancing at the screens at regular intervals to make sure there was nothing wrong with the surveillance. His routine was interrupted by his doorbell ringing. Grumbling, he stood up and went to answer the door. It was probably another annoying delivery or extra work. Nonchalantly as always, he answered the door and accepted the package from the quivering blue clansman with his poker face. Quickly, he got back to his desk and dumped the package on the desk by the side. He couldn't care less for more work or whatever, he wanted to get back to writing about his life with his family. Every day, he fervently kept a journal that recorded every act of his precious family; his wife Misaki and their little baby. If he had calculated right and everything has gone exactly as he thought, Misaki would have given birth to their baby five years ago, and their child would be four and a half, almost five. His precious little love crystallization will be starting school soon! At the idea of this, he became extremely giddy, and wrote fervently in the notebook, detailing how his precious child would start school…at least, as he imagined it.

Actually, the journal he kept wasn't really a record of his wife and child's everyday life…it was what he imagined it would be had she stayed and they had gotten married. It's sad to wallow in such a pitiful memory, but even if he couldn't live **with them**, he hoped to **live alongside them**, and **always think of them**. Gradually, one thought became two, two became three, and before he knew it, so many things came to mind that he had to write them down. As he wrote, he stole a glance at the newly arrived package. He was on a roll…he didn't really want to stop writing, because the more he wrote, the more he lived alongside them. He wanted to have at least that, even if he couldn't be physically in the same living spaces as his two most beloved. Ah, but if he didn't finish his assignments, he would have to spend more time working on them…kind of like overtime at the office so he couldn't go home to Misaki until late in the night. If he thought about it like that, he felt he really should just get the task over with.

Bored as ever, he opened the package, and was slightly surprised when a disc slid out. "Personal Statement, Y,M." was the label on the disc case. _'Hn….now they want me to review the newbies too…? Honestly, what a drag….what do they do at the headquarters these days?'_ He clicked his tongue in annoyance, and looked at the other stacks of papers. On the top was the application, but the sight of it made him stop in his tracks. It wasn't the application itself, those forms were pretty standard. It was the candidate photo that made his breath hitch. It was Misaki. His lovely, precious Misaki. Not believing his eyes, he seized the application papers and looked them over carefully, checking row by row. Name: Yata Misaki, Age: 25, Gender: Female, Position: Deputy third in command. _'Deputy third in command!? So…she has almost as much power, huh….but deputy…guess that means I am still above her. Can I…give her commands…?'_ the thought of being able to command her, to have control over her, excited Saruhiko to no end. _'This is great, this is wonderful~! It will be like that sweet little week we had when we were making our precious little baby….ah, Misaki! Listen to what I say, look only at me…and do what I say, without reserve….that's how it should be. You should be mine as much as I am yours…love me, as I love you…if you don't want me commanding you, that's fine too! Command me instead, give me orders, __**bind me to you**__.'_ He became increasingly fervent and manic as he recalled every detail of that one sweet, indulgent week.

Jumping to look at the disc, he quickly popped the CD into his computer, and ran it. Immediately, a media player opened and the recorded interview began. He could see his Misaki animated and speaking to the camera, which was himself at the moment. Quickly, Saruhiko put the video in full screen, and reveled at being looked at through the video by his precious Misaki. Tears of relief leaked out of his eyes and rolled down his cheeks in two steady streams. _'She's really here…she's finally back…Misaki, how I missed you! Ahh, I'm so glad…you're back, you're back! I thought I would never see you again…and that you were happy wherever you were, far away and without me…it tore me to think that you were happy somewhere where I wasn't…'_ He pressed his cheeks to the screen as he cuddled the recorded image of Misaki, leaving wet tear trails all over his computer monitor. Not that he cared. After he finished watching the interview, he put it back on loop. He wanted Misaki to keep him company while he looked through the rest of the papers. He was, of course, surprised that there was also an update report about the movements of Clear Fang, whose members' movements have been tracked by him recently. He had also had to hack into several email and bank accounts of these members to get a clearer picture of what they were trying to do.

_'So what does Clear Fang have to do with Misaki? She just joined Scepter 4…I know she is the deputy third, but even they can't train her to respond well in a short time…'_ Furrowing his brow, he continued to flip through the report. There were updates on their movements, logs and records, but when he flipped to near the end, his heart once again froze. Clipped to the top left hand corner was a colour copy picture. He wasn't certain, but looking at the child portrayed and putting one and one together, Saruhiko was very certain the child in that picture was his child. His and Misaki's child. Their precious little love crystallization…oh! What an adorable little child! He felt these tender emotions oddly wash over him as he studied the picture carefully. Their dear son had Misaki's eyes, and the rest…well, he was a carbon copy of him. He had hoped their child would take after Misaki, then he can be surrounded with two Misakis instead…that would be heaven indeed.

Ever more encouraged and worried at the same time, he flipped through the rest of the report, and gasped at the heinous words typed out in detail, along with two colour copies detailing the front and back of Clear Fang's calling card. _'How dare they…! Those bastards….I'll make them pay ten times over for daring to touch even a hair on my son! Heh….I'll make them regret being born….'_ He gritted his teeth as he read the entire report through. Leaning his head back, he thought about what his next step should be, when a rustling sound distracted him. He looked to see the familiar letter paper that Munakata always used for personal greetings. What is one doing inside his work package? Reading the contents only served to fuel Saruhiko's burning desire.

_Dear Fushimi-kun,_

_I hope this package finds you well, and I know that as of late there is a lot of hacking and surveillance you have had to do. Unfortunately, as you may or may not have read, Clear Fang have escalated their acts. Their most recent act includes kidnapping of a minor, and most likely unlawful imprisonment as well. Since things have escalated quite far, I see the need for an in-field third in command. I know you are not in the best of condition to do in field work, so I have appointed a temporary deputy third to take over the in-field duties. Perhaps you can spare some time to come in and train her in protocols sometime. According to her, though, she plans only to stay with Scepter 4 for as long as this mission requires, and expects to leave again once this mission is over. I am pleased to say she is getting along very well with the rest of the members. On a final note, more information about the operation is currently being handled by her. I look forward to seeing you in the office in the near future._

_Captain. _

Misaki was…planning to leave again!? He will not stand for that! Misaki will STAY this time, she will stay and MARRY HIM. He will make sure of it. '_No, I must stabilize my presence in Scepter 4 and watch her all the time.'_ He thought frantically as he stood up and made his way to the door, but stopped when he saw himself in the mirror. What stared back at him wasn't what he remembered of himself: staring back at him was a slightly jaundiced, gaunt faced skeleton of a man with sunken eyes and greasy hair. He looked no better than a zombie. _'W-what…is…is this ME!? I…I can't meet Misaki like this! So ugly and dead! It would scare her…! No, no…I must become…suitable for her. I'll have to train up again, but I gotta' do it quickly…before she gets too friendly with the others in Scepter 4.'_

* * *

….There it is! I know Yata seems oddly open in this chapter and also self-blamey…I felt that since Yata is a character who is easily embarrassed by even a kiss, sex would be something she'd bury her head for, and if there was foreplay involved and she enjoyed it, that would be most unforgivable and shameful to her.

As for Saru…did I make him too pitiful, clingy, and somewhat manic? I feel like he's somewhat too obsessive…?

Chapter notes

[1] Karasuki: One of the names for the three stars in the belt of the Orion constellation. It means "three pronged" and refers to the rough shape of a plough. Ancient Japanese farmers would track the movements of these three stars to know when to plant millet, and when to plant rice. Since Saruhiko's sword, Subaru, is named for the Pleaides star cluster, I thought I'd make Misaki have something star related as well. (On a side note, Munakata's sword is called "Tenroh", which refers to Sirius or Canis Major constellation). Coincidently, the name has "Karasu" in it, which can mean "crow", and this constellation is also considered three pronged. Yata's nickname, Yatagarasu, refers to the legendary three-legged crow. Three prongs, three legs. Incident?


	5. The looming clouds

Redemption chp.5: The Looming Clouds

First of all, thanks to all those who have reviewed, faved, followed, and/or dropped by this fic! Although I can't say this update is all that timely, I'm glad people didn't find Saruhiko too creepy…though on this note, I find it hard about where to start this chapter… so I apologize in advance if the beginning seems to come out from nowhere.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the official K characters, they are the property of GoRa and GoHands respectively (and Saruhiko will argue that Misaki is his property respectively, as well).

* * *

A slight smile tugged at his lips as he finished the last line in his journal, and turned his head back to the monitor screen. His Misaki had been bullied a lot, and he would fix that as soon as he got back and made it clear to everyone just who she belonged to. For now, though, he would have to just watch her, and find out how she had changed. _'Motherhood has really turned her into a beauty…a different kind of beauty though. Not the shallowness of those silly, giggling girls or the calculated wiles of street side sluts…no, my Misaki has become a perfect, pure beauty….'_ He thought fondly as he looked with longing eyes at the monitor in front of him. It showed the Scepter 4 offices, specifically monitoring a certain redheaded, plump bosomed deputy third. Her baby face had proven to be an asset, as the years have been kind to her, and although she is 25, her appearance can easily be mistaken for a very busty 18 or 19 year old, tops 20. Childbirth had given her curvy hips, and breastfeeding had gifted her flat chest with ample, heavy breasts. Of course, they still weren't anywhere near the same size as Awashima's breasts, but Misaki's breasts would still prove to be quite the handfuls, or maybe even spilling out the grasp of a single hand. Saruhiko relished in every detail of his love, extremely proud of the fact that he had been the one to cause these changes to her; through his hands he had molded her into his ideal woman.

_'Soon, we'll be reunited again.' _ He thought gleefully as he took a sip of coffee from a cup beside him. It had been six months since his resolve to become suitable for his Misaki once again. During the six months, he had devoted himself to recovering, carefully replenishing nutrients at a steady pace and keeping to a strict workout schedule. Not only had he made a speedy recovery back to the condition from five years ago, but he had also gained a fair bit of muscle. Wearing slightly tighter clothes would reveal the perfectly balanced, slim yet muscled physique of the 25 year old. Of course, a skincare regimen was also used to keep his appearance at its best. As soon as he had gotten the doctor's assessment of his health, he had submitted that along with a report to reinstate himself in the office again as active third in command. He couldn't wait until he got to command her. Thinking back on training her, he was reminded once again of that one week five years ago. That sweet, dream-like one week…

The past six months have been quite tiring and hard for Misaki, and had it not been for the constant encouragement from her ex-Homura team members who had slowly gathered over the months to comfort her, she would not have made it through the six months of adjusting. The paperwork was hell, even though it was usually delivered to Saruhiko for processing. There were still reports that had to be written immediately, and those could not wait for him to be done and sent back. As such, she had to write them on her own. Her training at the teahouse had made her adept at handling paperwork and writing professionally, but it was still a hassle, since a corporate report is different from tallying up stock. Nonetheless, she pressed on, and as always, triumphed. The Special unit squad members were all pretty friendly to her now, once they realized that she was the kind of leader who, though bluntly honest and rash, also looked out for her subordinates and tried to protect them. Whether it was in the field or for protocol breaches, she still tried her best to shield them. It was definitely a difference from the management methods of the Captain, Lieutenant or Third. For that, they were grateful. The deputy third was an easier person to talk to, which surprised both Munakata and Awashima. It would seem that she had a knack for leadership, too.

Hidaka and Domyouji would be the first to defend her if any other squad members disagreed with her, after she had saved them from a crumbling building. Normal protocol would have demanded that the rest of the unit go apprehend the strains and leave them to get themselves out, or to get them out once the strains were caught instead. Apprehending strains came before the safety of the members, since they were supposed to be trained enough to get themselves out of messes, and had been granted the special powers of the Blue clan. However, Misaki, as the deputy third, felt that she couldn't leave any of her men behind, and so had opted to rescue them first before catching the strains. That resulted in the strains giving them more trouble than would have been the case had they caught the strains first, and Munakata had scolded her thoroughly for it, despite her reasons. Enomoto was all but brought to tears when she had piggy backed him up a rocky ledge during a scouting mission. His clumsiness had led to him slipping, falling, spraining his ankle, and getting half of his body trapped under heavy boulders that had fallen on him when he landed and caused the rocks to tumble down. Unfortunately, their rescue team would still take hours to arrive, since they were deep in the forest. They didn't have enough ropes to rescue Enomoto AND lift the boulders off of him. Slashing the boulders wasn't an option, since that might further injure Enomoto underneath. So without thinking, Misaki lept off, cleared the boulders by hand, and pulled Enomoto out. The ledge he fell onto was too narrow to allow more than one person to rescue the glasses wearing boy. Since he couldn't stand, she piggy backed him and told him to hold on as she scaled the ledge back up.

Needless to say, that surprised the rest of the Special Unit, who had thought that the russet haired woman's strength would only be abundant in battle. By the end of the ordeal, Enomoto couldn't help crying, and was so embarrassed by it. However, like a mother, Misaki only soothed him, patting him on the head lightly. Which once again shocked everyone, since they had not expected her to have a nurturing side. From then on, Kamo would also seek her out and talk to her privately, mainly about parenting matters since he had a daughter of his own[1]. At times, he often found it hard to cope with the fact that he just couldn't see his little girl as often as he'd like. As parents whose children were missing from their sides, both Misaki and Kamo often chatted together to comfort each other. As the only other female member of Scepter 4 who lived in the dorm and was often free, Awashima and Misaki also went shopping on their time off quite a lot, visiting Kusanagi on the way back.

Misaki was not so make up oriented since she had had to save on money when raising Shou on her own. Awashima was just dying to doll up the girl who still had such a baby face…it was a shame not to! While Misaki was of a fiery temperament, her straightforwardness had given Awashima good, honest advice when it came to making her fashion purchases. Although she was not into make up or accessories, Misaki still had a surprisingly frugal and good eye for certain pieces. She always picked neutral colours that matched with almost any outfit, a bit of shopping wisdom that surprised Awashima slightly. All in all, it was a good time whenever they went out. Munakata had, of course, noticed the lively change that Misaki inspired within Scepter 4. As a rigid Captain, he was somewhat unhappy about the lightened amount of professional formality, but greatly happy at the level of positive vibes around the office as a result. Thus, he deemed that letting go a bit of professionalism was alright if it boosted the efficiency and morale of the group as a whole. _'this atmosphere…I certainly did not think it possible for us..perhaps the Christamas celebration for this year will prove to be a huge success. Something more lavish than a dinner should be done, since everyone seems in the mood for a pleasant evening…I shall plan for an evening ball and see how they think about it.' _Munakata thought as the pair of girls approached his direction. He held out an arm elegantly and stopped them. "Ah, Awashima-kun, Yata-kun. Just the two people I wanted to speak to." He spoke with a hint of a smile, while the two girls stared back at him with questioning looks. "For this year's Christmas celebration, I have decided to host a masked ball. What are your opinions on this?"

"Ehh!? A masked ball!? That sounds…really classy….I don't know if the other members would feel comfortable with that. Since it IS formal and all…and isn't such a lavish thing a waste of taxpayers' money?" Misaki was really concerned about Scepter 4's way of spending their funding. Sure, most of the times the money was used for a good cause such as repairs, maintenance, and purchasing new equipment, but using government funding to host such things as a Christmas celebration…that seemed oddly like a waste of funding. "Don't worry about the funding, Yata. The government had this in mind when they gave us their monthly funding. Captain, I think it is a wonderful idea to have a bit of a celebration to boost the growing morale of the team." Awashima gave her two cents to Munakata. "I feel that this is a ripe time to solidify the bonds between the members of Scepter 4." Munakata also agreed, and strode off to his office as the two girls made their way back to the dorms to put away their recent purchases_. 'A winter celebration for all of Scepter 4, huh? I wonder if….Saruhiko….'_ Misaki thought as she walked along.

Of course, all of Misaki's activities didn't go unnoticed by a certain blue-black haired man on surveillance duty. He had been slowly easing his presence back into the office, only showing up at sparse hours after most people were off duty to report to Munakata late in the night, and sneak peeks around Misaki's office desk or her dorm room, leaving tiny little presents. Misaki, who never suspected anything, always thought the little blessings in the form of candies, canned coffees, aspirin tablets, and single flowers were the bit of support the rest of the Special Unit members did for her on account of their friendship. Saruhiko would watch from his apartment with secret glee as Misaki enjoyed the presents he left her. He also secretly hacked into her credit card account every month, paying off her bills for purchases. It made him happy to support her, as a husband should provide for his wife. He felt that he would be a terrible husband if he couldn't at least pay off his wife's credit card. He'd feel even better if he could be there and buy her those nice things, and spoil her like a princess…but until he was fully reinstated, he couldn't appear before her, yet. A knock on his door interrupted him from his admiration of Misaki. How often did he have to be interrupted from his time with his Misaki? It was starting to be a bit annoying. Sighing, he made his way to the door, and surprisingly this time, he was handed only two documents; one contained in his usual work package envelope but thinner than his usual package, and the other was a lavish, pearlesque navy envelope.

Saruhiko's mood only grew better with the opening of the envelopes…things were going well his way. He supposed he should thank his Captain for giving him all these opportunities to get his Misaki back. Though, he really didn't want to give him the satisfaction…the older man had really irked him years ago when he tried to recruit Saruhiko into Scepter 4 despite knowing that he was part of Homura. Still, things would not have been as they are today if not for the decisions of the past. The work envelope contained an order that reinstated him as active third in command, and he was to report for duty starting two weeks from today. The next one was an invitation to Scepter 4's annual Christmas dinner…this year it was a masked ball. _'What a trivial thing…I really don't want to go…'_ he thought tediously, but the next lines made him perk up.

_As there is need to further solidify the morale of all of Scepter 4, attendance of the third in command and deputy third are mandatory, in addition to the Captain and Lieutenant. Furthermore, I plan to announce your reinstatement at the Christmas Ball, given your efforts and progress in the past six months. You may take this opportunity to acquaint yourself with your deputy third before your official duties begin again._

So…meeting his Misaki again amidst the mysterious splendor of a masked ball…? That sounds about perfect. It would also be the perfect time to show the rest of Scpeter 4 that Misaki belonged to him…and as deputy third, it was only natural that she would have to spend the evening at his side. Ahh, he couldn't wait for the ball, until he could show himself to her…to hold her again, to have her again…he was once again reminded of his blissful "marriage week" from five years ago…

- Five years ago, streets of Shizume City-

The rain came down in torrents, covering Shizume City in a silent gloom. Outside, there was almost no one. The usually vibrant city seemed to have become a ghost town with just the constant sheet of water. It had been raining all week since Suoh Mikoto's death, as if Mother Nature herself as mourning for him too. Needless to say, the death of the Red King had a significant impact on the remaining followers. Namely, that any remnants of enemy gangs from before were constantly starting fights, trying to exact revenge. Not that these were a big problem, since Homura itself was a formidable force even without the power of the red flames. The enemies themselves were scarce and few, since Homura left no blood, no bone, no ash when they did their work. Surviving enemies could only have continued on because they fled when judgment fell, or by some sheer stroke of luck they were not discovered.

On a whole, the remnants of Homura were still able to continue being an underworld Punisher of sorts, though not as effectively as before. It is one such "revenge challenge" that had a short, russet haired girl fighting some punks in an alley. It was no big deal and despite her small size, she was kicking ass with her skateboard faster than the punks could scream. It would have been a quick and easy fight ending in the redheaded girl's victory, if it wasn't for a hidden member who snuck up behind her and struck her with a blunt object, instantly knocking the girl out in that one moment when she couldn't guard.

"Keh, what a bitch to deal with. Now it's time to get even for all that shit she put us through." One of the punks raised his leg, preparing to kick her in the face, when another punk held him back. It was the one who had struck her from behind. "Wait. She looks kinda' cute. I know a better way to get back at her than messing her face up. I'll make it so that she can' ever live holding up her head with pride anymore." The man grinned maliciously, holding up a ziploc bag of syringes. "Haa, that's a good idea…but with how flat she is, you think we'll get customers using her?" the first punk asked. "Don't you know women get curvier hen they're fondled enough? That's where our special training on this little bitch comes in~" the punk holding the needle gloated as he lifted a pale arm and injected the drug into the unconscious redhead. "And naturally, we'll be taking her precious first time as a training fee. All we gotta' do is wait for sleeping beauty here to wake up." He sniggered as he slowly withdrew the now empty needle. The other two punks who had started the fight sniggered dumbly along. "Wait…there's only one hole though…" one of them trailed off. "You ever heard of anal and oral? That makes three, one virgin hole for each of us." the punk with the needle reminded. "But who's going to take her v straight on?" "me, duh. I was the one who knocked her out and came up with this genius plan. I knocker her out, so obviously I get to knock her _up_, too~" he sniggered at his on crude joke. "What!? It should be me, if I hadn't searched her out, you wouldn't have the chance to knock her out or put your plan in motion!" the thug who originally wanted to kick Misaki's face exclaimed. "All you did was pick a fight, it was definitely me who did more work!" the needle thug exclaimed.

Not before long, an argument broke out between the two. Meanwhile, the third punk began to untie the jacket around the unconscious redhead's waist. "Jackass! You tryin' to get first dibs? Huh!?" the two fighting punks turned to the third one, who immediately backed away. Not long, it became an all or nothing one man standing brawl between the three.

'_Tch. How annoying. To have to patrol in weather like this, when it's obvious not a soul is going to be out to cause trouble._' A blue-black haired youth thought bitterly, his emotions hidden behind emotionless, ice-blue eyes. It was an understatement to say he hated to patrol, especially in this weather. He absolutely dreaded, and loathed having to do so. He hated normal patrols bad enough, but add the pouring rain and it's just cruel punishment. As he neared an alleyway, he could hear a series of muted shouts accompanied with dull thuds. It seemed like there was a ruckus up ahead. Sneakily, he inched along the wall and peered around the corner. There were three guys indiscriminately beating up each other… a free for all brawl? There were syringes littered all over the ground…_' a dispute about drugs?'_ his eyes kept trailing along the ground until he caught sight of an all too familiar red coat. Eyes trailing along, he could see an unconscious body on the ground which he quickly recognized as his beloved Misaki.

Judging by the syringe discarded near her exposed arm and the telling pink spot on it, he immediately realized his Misaki was drugged. The blood in his veins boiled, and the scraps of dialogue he was hearing between the three punks only added fuel to his anger. He heard enough to piece together what the punks had in mind for his little Misaki…and none of them will get out of this unscathed. "Oi! You three! What do you think you're doing?" Saruhiko stepped into the alleyway, full of composure and authority. "W-what? J-just our own business, we're just brawlin', ain't no strain thing here!" one of the punks tried to cover up. "Yeah, so there ain't no business for you Blues here, scram!" the needle punk threatened. "No business? I would hardly call drug dealing, drugging, attempted rape 'nothing'. I have reason to believe all three of you are involved in a drug cartel and human trafficking ring. I hereby place all three of you under arrest, you can come with me quietly, or we can do it the hard way." Saruhiko threatened professionally with his saber drawn, although he was secretly hoping they would fight.

"Keh, you think we're going to give in to a snot-nosed brat like you!? Once I'm done with you I'mma' take the girl and have myself a good time before turning her into my cash cow!" needle punk retaliated first, as Saruhiko smirked. Perfect. Now he can properly unleash all of his pent up anger, his saber poised and ready for a deadly strike. One swift stroke downwards, and needle punk's arm went flying, thoroughly detached from the shoulder. He screamed and fell backwards, and the other two punks backed away hesitantly. Of course, just having an arm gone wasn't enough to quell Saruhiko's anger over how these punks treated his Misaki. Even if they died a thousand times over in the most sickening ways, none of it would calm his anger. He could literally see his own vision turn red with anger as he pursued the punks with lightning speed, slashing at their tendons. They were sure to never walk again. Turning back to the needle punk who had such a heinous scheme for his beloved, he set upon him with greater malice than the other two.

"P-please…I-I didn't mean a single thing I said back there! I-I admit to the drugs and everything, just d-don't kill me! You can have the girl and all, a-and I'll even come to jail with you, please don't kill me…!" he begged pitifully, with snot coming out of his nostrils as he groveled low on the dirty ground. His pleads fell on deaf ears as the blue haired officer raised his arm, preparing to strike. Mercilessly, he brought his hand down, and the punk raised his arms in self defense, expecting to be dealt a finishing blow. Blood was spilt, but the punk was not killed. Instead, the blue saber's point rested on the now bloody ground, in front of the needle punk's crotch…or what used to be his crotch, anyway. Seeing such a sight, the needle punk full out frothed white foam from his mouth and fainted. _'Tch. What worthless trash…for even daring to think of putting my Misaki in such a dirty situation, you deserve to be childless for the rest of your life...to let you live is too merciful. Regret it for the rest of your life!'_ he cast a scornful glance backwards and made his way to the two other punks who were on the ground, bleeding from their legs. They appealed to him just as pitifully, but met with the same end as the needle punk. For those who even _thought_ of defiling his Misaki, he would show no mercy. They will suffer inferiority and regret for the rest of their lives, and live miserably forever.

Turning to Misaki, who lay unconscious, Saruhiko wiped the blood that had splashed on his face, and made his way to her. She was soaked through, and felt clammy and cold. Thankfully, there was still a pulse. Saruhiko stored the bag of unused syringes for analysis, and princess carried Misaki. He would have to get her to Scepter 4's medical facilities to check out what she had been drugged with, and same thing with the syringes. Was it a new drug circulating in the underground? He paced anxiously as he waited for the results in front of the emergency ward. Finally, a nurse emerged after an hour of examination. "How is she?" Saruhiko couldn't help but burst out, worried for the redhead's condition. "It would be better if you asked the doctor, I am not at liberty to talk about the patient's condition." The nurse walked away briskly, and Saruhiko tch-ed before he turned to the doctor to inquire. "My apologies, but as a matter of professional ethnic conduct, I cannot simply divulge her conditions to anyone unless they are family, or intimate with the patient. Do you fall into ether of those categories?" the doctor asked stiffly, unafraid of the third in command despite being a Scepter 4 personnel[2].

"The conditions I found her in makes her an extremely important witness for our current investigations, therefore I need full details of her mental and physical capability in case we need her testimony. To answer your question, yes. I am her common law spouse." Saruhiko lied, though he was quite happy to make that real. The doctor stiffened visibly, and a look of sympathy washed over his face."Oh….goodness, I'm sorry that you had to find her like that. Well, her condition right now is stable, there are wounds from a normal fist fight, a bit of blunt trauma to the back of her head, but nothing to put her in a coma. Clearly, she has been injected with some sort of drug, but it does not seem to be that big of a problem according to the report we received. She should be okay if she stays the next week here or so for monitoring." The doctor dutifully replied.

"Are…are there any…umm…penetrations?" Saruhiko asked warily. The doctor fell silent for a moment, looked at the clipboard, flipped a few pages, and turned back to the blue officer. "No, she has sustained the injuries as expected of a normal street brawl, but there are no wounds near the inner thighs, and there appear to be no signs that her genitals have been disturbed at all. Rest assured, she is in good health. Her mental state, however…that remains to be seen." The doctor voiced out his legitimate concern, glancing warily at the sapphire-raven, who looked back with worry. "What...do you mean by that, exactly?" he asked, not sure if he was going to like the answer. "Well…it says here that inside her bloodstream, there is a fair dose of stimulants and euphoriants in her system." The doctor deadpanned. "And that is supposed to mean…?" Saruhiko pressed on. Did this mean her eyes would be permanently damaged or something!? "Ah, well…it means her mental state will become quite…happy and positive. She will be very sensitive once she awakes, and even the slightest contact or sensation will have her in a very extremely positive response…she may become overly affectionate. More so than the average normal person." The doctor delivered monotonously as Saruhiko gaped, as if he hadn't just told him that Misaki would basically act like a high bunny on Viagra once she woke up.

"If the Investigations Unit requires her for testimony, I must say that she will be in no clear mental state to deliver an honest account. This is my professional opinion as a doctor. I suggest not pressing to have her give testimony until a good week after, as the concentration in her blood is quite high. I estimate the effects will not wear off until a week later or so. During this time, her mental state is quite fragile, since the Euphoriants have blocked the part of her brain that makes rational decisions. She will simply do and say whatever she wants during this time, which is why it is crucial to keep her confined and limit her activities." The doctor added as a final note. "So…do you suppose that the least amount of risk would be to have her under house arrest? Then she would be limited to contact with me only, and as our home is a secluded place, she will not endanger anyone with her liberties." Saruhiko explained to the doctor, who seemed to agree with his suggestion. "That would be ideal, provided that you escort her here for checkups to gauge how much of the drug remains in effect from time to time during the week. As a medical professional, I must insist that the safety of the patient be monitored until we know for certain that the drug is no longer influencing her actions." The doctor cautioned, not willing to let a patient go completely unmonitored, even if she was with her spouse. "Alright, I can agree to bringing her in for checkups from time to time. Will that do?" Saruhiko asked, eager to get Misaki home. Back to his home, that is. Which will soon become their home, if he managed to do things right.

"Yes, I suppose she is in good hands, then. I will prepare the documents for discharge, but please remember to escort her back for a checkup every other day." The doctor acquiesced, going off to a desk where a nurse sat filling out forms for Misaki's discharge. Saruhiko hummed to himself lightly under his breath…in a matter of moments, he will have Misaki all to himself…and he debated in his mind whether he should just return her to Homura. But then, she'll be extremely easy to persuade…like hell I'll leave her to that bunch of thugs when she'll be sexually active! They might take advantage of her, and brutalize her…no it is simply the best to take her home. _'I know how to treat her best…and besides, with me, she'll at least be certain who the father is…'_ Saruhiko thought as he received the papers, and storing them carefully inside his coat, he picked up his redheaded present and made his way back to his apartment, not caring for the eyes that stared at him.

* * *

Shit's gonna' get real now….I don't know how I feel about Saruhiko acting in such a rapey way though….even though he technically wasn't the one who drugged her or anything. Even though I'm the one who wrote him like this… I guess he's desperate.

Chapter notes:

[1] Kamo's daughter: in the second chapter of K: Days of Blue, it is revealed that Kamo Ryuuho, aged 25 (at the time of the manga) has a daughter. However, he can only see her once every three months since he is divorced.

[2] only Blue personnel: Not too sure if Scepter 4 actually has a medical ward, but since they monitor and test strains, they should have a medical ward to look after their well being. At any rate, I assume that Saruhiko, who is third in command of Scepter 4, would rank higher than a doctor in the medical department. Despite that, the Doctor still refuses to divulge info, as a matter of professional ethics.


	6. Burning

Redemption chp. 6: Burning

First of all, thanks to all those who have reviewed, faved, followed, and/or dropped by this fic! Since I left off at a cliffy, and I also wanted to write that smut scene ASAP (No one likes being teased, especially Saruhiko), so here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own K or any of the official characters. They are the property of GoRa and GoHands respectively. I do not make any profit from this fanfic. If you paid to read this, ASK FOR A REFUND NOW.

WARNING: M-rated smut, kinks, major OOCness, drug use (forced). This chapter still takes place five years ago.

* * *

Although it was storming torrents of water down outside, Saruhiko was not a bit put down by the sour weather. In his arms he cradled his beloved Misaki, drenched and cold, but alive. He trudged into the bathroom as soon as he got inside his apartment, and put the unconscious Misaki into the bath tub. He removed his drenched, long coat and cast it into the laundry basket, the wet garment landing in with a wet 'plop'. He rolled his sleeves, and crouched down to remove Misaki's wet clothes. When he finished taking off the last piece of clothing, he turned on the faucet, filling the tub with warm water instantly. He needed to warm and dry her first, before anything else. Gathering up the wet clothes, he dumped them into the laundry basket as well. Then, he made his way to his bedroom, where he dug up a spare t-shirt for her to wear while her clothes were being cleaned, and a spare towel from his closet. Returning back to the washroom, he cleaned her body thoroughly before drying her . When he was done, he tucked her under his warm covers, waiting for her to wake up.

He anxiously waited for her to awaken, worried the doctor might had misdiagnosed, and that perhaps she was actually dying instead!? Finally, to his relief, he heard a groan come from his bedroom. Peeking in slowly, he saw that she seemed to be struggling in her sleep, and she was sweating profusely as she struggled. Quickly wetting a cloth, he rushed back and gently dabbed at her neck and forehead, wiping away the sweat with a worried look on his face. "Misaki….Misaki, wake up…." He shook her gently as he called out lightly into her ear. "Hmmmh…..! Hgk…!" She struggled painfully, but stopped and slowly opened her eyes, squinting at the bright lights of the bedroom ceiling. "Sa…ru….hi…ko…?" Her gold-hazel eyes appeared to be unfocused as she took a bit of time to recognize who was before her. "Yes, it's me." He affirmed gently in her ear. "I….I….it was…." Misaki was trying to put together what she wanted to say, but it was hard. For some reason, her mind was all hazy and she felt soft and hot all over her body. Saruhiko was still wiping her neck and forehead, and she wished his fingers would just brush her skin. _'Ehh…? Why am I having…these feelings….why now…? So shameful….'_ She thought idly as Saruhiko ran a thumb over her dry, panting lips, worry etched on his face. "Mnh!" a moan slipped out of her lips as his thumb brushed her bottom lip, and her eyes filled with helpless longing as she looked back at him. Her cheeks were flushed, and tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. "Your lips are dry, let me get you some water. Just wait here." Saruhiko reassured calmly as he moved away, before Misaki could reach out and stop him. She watched sadly at his retreating back as he walked out of the bedroom.

_'Dammit….I've got to keep my cool….Misaki….why do you have to be so cute and so goddamn erotic at the same time!? Ahhhhh dammit dammit dammit, I want to just strip her bare and use these hands to explore every nook and cranny of her body…shh, calm down, Saruhiko. She clearly looks really sick, don't take advantage of her like this. You gotta' find out from her what happened back in the alley first….'_ Saruhiko thought to himself as he filled his cup with water, his hands shaking slightly. He could feel himself getting excited down south, and tried his best to will it away, as much as possible. "Here, Misaki. Your lips are so dry, drink some water." He walked back into his bedroom, and almost dropped the cup at how happily Misaki perked up when she saw him entering. Her cheeks flushed red and her eyes aglow with happiness, just like the way she used to look at him back when they were in middle school. _'Ah, that's right…it's that look again. Maybe…maybe now, if I…if I do something, she will stay for good this time.' _ He thought as he handed her his cup, and she accepted obediently, drinking the water quickly. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was. "….I'm done." Misaki returned, snapping Saruhiko out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, um, here. Just give it here." He held out his hand to take her cup, which she obediently gave back, their fingers brushing as she handed the cup over. A slight gasp could be heard from her, which did not go unnoticed by the blue haired man. But he said nothing about it, and proceeded to tousle her hair softly. "How do you feel right now?" "Mmnh….I…I feel all fuzzy, and uh….hot….." Misaki all but moaned as he ran his hand across her forehead and around her neck and collar bone, checking to see if she was sweating anymore. However, he found himself getting turned on from her moan instead. '_Dammit, I can't stand it anymore…!_' Saruhiko thought in frustration as he ran his hand over her collarbone. "Mi~Sa~Ki~~ you seem to be enjoying this a bit too much….could it be, that you want my touch~?" Saruhiko teased, testing the effects of the drug on his Misaki. "Hnh…..yes~….." She moaned in response, desperate for Saruhiko to run his hands all over her hot, soft body. For some odd reason, every touch he made on her body felt so good, as if she was being jolted quickly with a thousand volts of electricity. The area between her legs was oddly uncomfortable, and she couldn't pinpoint what it was that was bothering her, exactly. She knew for certain that she wanted something to be done to her, though.

Saruhiko had not expected her to actually respond so easily and comply so obediently. "Misaki…are you sure you want this? You won't regret this?" he asked again, worried that she might not want it after all, and that it was all his delusion. "Hnngh….! Yes, I want it! I want you to touch me, more! All over me…."Misaki trailed with want as she brazenly hooked her fingers at the hem of the white shirt she was wearing, and in one fluid motion, took it off. She looked up at Saruhiko with longing and want, her naked body completely exposed to him. "Please, Saruhiko~~" the russet haired girl begged, giving Saruhiko her best puppy eyes. Her pink nipples became erect from the exposure to air as she waited, and she licked her lips before pouting, still entreating her blue headed lover to lay his hands on her. Saruhiko gulped as he beheld the copper haired goddess in his bed, pink nipples ripe and erect, luscious wet lips in a cute pout, and her gold-hazel eyes smouldering with want for him. Dammit, he can't keep it in any more. Slamming his cup on his nightstand, he pounced on top of her, eliciting an excited yelp from her.

Pinning her under him, he asked breathily in her ear, "Well, sweetheart? Please what? What do you want me to do?" he smirked, licking the shell of her ear. "Anh! I…I want you…to touch me all over…! Please!" she moaned squirming to press her body to his wandering hands more. "Mnh, what a good girl." The blue haired man teased his russet haired lover as he captured her lips, their tongues dancing within their warm caverns as one of his hands moved down to tease and rub an erect nipple. He was rewarded with a deep moan of pleasure for his ministrations. Satisfied, he moved his other hand down and began to pinch both of her nipples at the same time, being rewarded with even more vocal moans. They broke apart for air after what seemed like eternity that they had been making out for, a delicate string of saliva connecting lip to lip. He stopped pinching one of her nipples, and slid that hand down to her genitals, which he was surprised to find, was thoroughly soaked and ready to receive. Gently he prodded, teasing the frustrated girl. "Well look who's just about ready…seems like you were really looking forward to this, ne?" Saruhiko smirked, moving down to nip at her exposed neck.

"Mmnh….hah! Ahh~…..y-yes!" She stammered, spreading her legs apart wide, allowing the blue-black haired man to easily access her. "Hah….hah…hah…." she panted with half-lidded eyes, waiting for his touch. "Hmm~? What's that? Yes what? What would you like me to do~?" Saruhiko continued to tease his little flower. It was simply much too fun to pass up, her vagina becoming steadily more soaked as he rubbed at her entrance slowly, teasing her sensitive pink pearl. "Ahh~~p-put it in~" Misaki moaned as she moved for more delicious friction to be applied to her wanting body. "Alright~ I'll put it in~~" The sapphire-raven sang as he thrust two fingers into her virgin entrance. "Ah! Ahn~ah…..ah…."her moans developed into a delectable rhythm that accompanied the squelch of his fingers thrusting in and out of her entrance roughly. Eventually, Saruhiko added a third finger, which was easily accepted by her prepared pussy. "Nngh…." The russet haired virgin moaned in pleasure as she felt her insides getting teased and stretched. Ah, the pleasure was just so hard to describe! She began to arch her back, thrusting her hips upwards. "Hahh….it looks like you're ready….so, tell me, Misaki~ what do you want me to do now?" Saruhiko looked at her with a teasing smirk, taking in the sight of her flushed cheeks and sweat covered body. He held up his fingers, which were coated in a thick layer of her vaginal fluid, and licked each finger slowly, breathing in the scent of her musk and savouring in the oddly sweet taste.

He cast a side glance at his shivering goddess, whose eyes glistened with tears of pleasure, face flushed and drool slowly leaking out of the corners of her mouth. Her whole body was flushed a lovely pink, and covered in a fine sheen of sweat. "Hah….hah….hah…..I-I….I want you to p-put it in me….hah..your cock! Please take my virginity, Saruhiko!" she all but cried out in frustration as her fingers held the folds of her pink, virgin entrance open, offering up her virginity to him. Saruhiko almost died on the spot of such wanton cuteness. Unable to restrain himself any longer as soon as he heard her wanton pleas, the blue-black haired man unzipped his pants and feed his throbbing erection, shedding the rest of his clothes while he was at it. A gasp could be heard as Misaki was met with the full view of Saruhiko's erect manhood. He smirked as he pumped his erection, looking at Misaki's awed face. "Heh. Like what you see?" he teased, his manhood growing to an even more impressive length as he stroked. "U-uwah! I-it's so big!" Misaki blurted out, blushing as she continued to hold herself open for him. "…W-will it….fit?" she asked worriedly as he moved closer.

Clambering over her and straddling her hips, he reassured her as he put his hardened manhood to her entrance. "Shh, don't worry, darling…it will fit~ I'll make sure it does." He sincerely reassured her, kissing her gently. "Do you want me to go in slow, or do you want me to go in one stroke?" he asked gently. It was his Misaki's precious first time after all, drug or no drug. He wanted to make it feel good, make it memorable for her. _'She must never forget me…I'll make it so…!'_ he thought determinedly as he laid gentle kisses all over her neck and in the shell of her ear. "Unh….S-Saru….take me however you like! Ah…ah….!" The delectable, creamy skinned girl moaned under the delicious kisses of her blue headed lover as she felt his manhood press up against her virgin entrance. "Hah….however I like, huh? What a sweetheart you are…!" With a single thrust, Saruhiko sheathed his full length inside her virgin entrance. "Nnghk…!Ah~~" Misaki stiffened at the sudden penetration. This was it, she had done it. She had given her first time to Saruhiko, and now he was in her as she felt her insides clench around the big, hard intrusion. Was it her or did he get harder and bigger the more she clenched? "Misaki…..hah…hah….hah…..ugh, you're so good! Hah….h-how is it for you? Tell me if it's too painful…" even amidst his happiness, Saruhiko cared more for her comfort.

"Uhn~~ I'm ok…hah….hah…hah…am…am I no longer virgin?" she panted, still not certain how much one had to be penetrated to be considered not virgin anymore. "Unf~ Your virgin blood is spilling out, but there's still some hymen left in you. What do you want me to do?" the sapphire-raven replied as he craned his neck to look at the spot where they were connected. There was fair amount of crimson flowing out of his Misaki's entrance. "S-saruhiko, t-take all of it….M-make it so I'm not vir-virgin anymore…I decided to give it all to you, after all." She blushed shyly, tucking her head down as she admitted to her wish. To be honest, she had never been able to picture herself with any other guy…even back in middle school, she could only (oddly) picture Saruhiko being the one to do those things they talked about in sex-ed class. Which often led to her flushing in embarrassment and shoving the blue haired boy away back then.

Good lord, his Misaki has been so sweet to him, every moan and pant was music to his ears, and every plea she had was like a confession to him. Saruhiko had never felt so much joy before, Misaki right now was even better than his fantasies. Ahh, his Misaki was simply the best! "Hah…alright, Misaki…as you…wish!"he pulled out slightly, and rammed back in with force, readjusting his angle every thrust, his dick stirring her insides. He felt slow, small trickles of warm liquid run down his length as he thrust in and out of her tight pussy at a steady pace amongst the erotic moans of his beloved. Looking down, he realized the warm fluid was the remainder of Misaki's virgin seal, and he continued to thrust until no more blood ran. "Mi-Misaki….it's….done…uhn….your virginity. It's all gone, I've taken it all." He did not forget to remind his Misaki that he was the one to take her first, grabbing her hand to intertwine their fingers as he leaned down to give a chaste kiss to her cheek, continuing to thrust at the same pace. "Mmh~~hah~t-thanks….I've always wanted you to be my first…" tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "Misaki! What's wrong? Did I do it too painfully? Are you hurt? Do you…do you regret it…?" the blue officer asked, concerned when he saw signs of tears on his beloved.

"N-no…i-it's just…I'm glad you're my first, so that…even..even if in the future, you're not with me…then at least I know you were my first….my precious first…." Misaki blurted out unhappily. Why else would Saruhiko leave Homura, leave her? _'Clearly he hates you, but didn't want to pass up a good screw._' She thought as he continued to thrust inside of her. Still, even if he would leave her, she was willing to be used by him. "No! Of course not, Misaki! I-I love you! Please….don't think of this as a pity fuck! It isn't, not to me! I'm proud to be your first….and I hope to be your only." Saruhiko pleaded desperately, embracing her close, driving his dick even deeper into her. "Ah…! R-really…? Hah….ah…ah…..I'm….I'm so happy…! I…I love you, Saruhiko….so much….unmm…." the russet haired girl moaned into her lover's ear as she sat up, wrapping her arms around his neck and sharing another wet kiss with him, shaking her hips frantically as she thrust herself onto the blue haired man's erect cock. "Hah….mmh! Nngh…." Saruhiko moaned out shamelessly, as he quickened his pace. He could feel Misaki picking up her pace as well, and knew that the both of them were close to their very first release.

"Ah-! Mi! Sa! Ki! I'm…uhn…..close….!" the sapphire-raven slammed hard into his copper headed love, accentuating each syllable of her name with a deep, hard thrust into her womb. Faster and faster their pace became, until it became a frenzy. "Uhn! Sa…Saruhikoo~…..I-I'm going to cum…!" Misaki half whined and half moaned, rolling her hips down to meet her beloved's energetic thrusts. She wanted him to reach even deeper inside her with every thrust. As if they both knew by instinct, the thrust became more shallow but frequent, until they both seized up and stopped- stars danced in her eyes and it became so bright that she had to close her eyes. She had never felt anything so pleasurable as the hot sensation that was filling her deep inside… "Ahh…more…! Saruu…ahh….this feels so good~! Please, fill me with more…! Stuff my virgin pussy with your cum!" the russet haired girl panted as she felt her womb being filled with Saruhiko's hot seed as he climaxed, spilling every drop of his thick cum inside his Misaki's womb.

"Ah….ah….."Saruhiko moaned lightly as he came down from his post-coital high. He embraced her close, breathing in the scent of their sweat and sex. "What you just said there…that was so cute. You have no idea how happy you're making me right now, Misaki." He confessed sincerely to her as he kissed her happily, slowly easing out of her with a soft 'squelch'. "Mmn, I'm so glad being with me makes you happy…h-hey, can…can you go….for another…?" Misaki asked shyly, her sense of shame lessened since he had taken her first and explored her body with his hands. "My, my…another round already? I don't mind, Misaki~ but are you sure…?" the blue haired man asked, worried that she might be doing this just to please him. Although he was glad she was making exceptions just to please him, he didn't want her to push herself. "Mm-hm! I'm really certain now, so please, will you continue taking all if my different forms of virginity…?" she got on all fours, her legs fairly far apart, her hands holding her butt cheeks and spreading her asshole open. The tiny, pink gaping hole just looked so inviting, sitting there innocently and tight above her cum filled vagina.

At such an inviting sight, Saruhiko could feel his member straighten up instantly again as he ran a hand up and down, preparing his manhood for a second round of penetration. Gently, he inserted one finger into her cum stuffed vagina, scooping out a small amount of cum. Inserting his finger into her virgin asshole, he wiggled it around a bit, spreading the lubricating cum around the pink crevice. "Teeheeheehee~!" she giggled lightly as he wiggled his finger inside her second hole, apparently it tickled. Once he felt that he had lubricated her ass well enough, he wasted no time in thrusting his full length into her once more. God…! She was SO TIGHT in all her holes…her vagina was clearly the best, but her ass wasn't too bad…Misaki was also pretty vocal about the pleasure being penetrated by him gave her. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Shove it in some more~! Ahn!" she shook her hips enthusiastically, burying Saruhiko's cock into her tight warmth some more as they thrusted. Saruhiko was surprised to be met with another light trickle of blood as well, since there was technically no hymen to break with anal sex. Still, he enjoyed the sight of it. Knowing that he was first to lay hands on such virgin flesh excited him greatly.

"Hah….Misaki, do you like it when your virginity is being taken?" Saruhiko teased breathlessly, as he watched the girl beneath him shake her hips wantonly, reveling in that dazed and pleased expression on her face. "Ah….Yes, I do! I love it when Saruhiko is taking my first time! I want you to take all of me…! Hah…ah….ah…. ah….Saruu….please take all my firsts! Make me yours!" Misaki moaned erotically, her mind focused on nothing except how her beloved Saruhiko was taking her. It just makes her so excited to know that he was taking all of her firsts. His thrusts were painful, but oh so good….his hands groping her breasts and pinching her nipples as he continued to thrust roughly in and out of her. Drool dripped out of the corner of her mouth out of lust, but she couldn't help it as she shook her hips in response to Saruhiko's thrusts. Finally, the pace quickened, and once again she was filled to the brim with the blue-black haired man's semen. Breaking apart panting, they shared yet again another sloppy, wet kiss. No words were needed now, the intimacy of skin on skin conveying their deep love, each thrust an unspoken "I want to be with you".

"Mm….there you go, Misaki. I've taken your anal virginity too…what do you want me to do next…?" he asked his lover as he snuggled close to her, burying his face into the back of her neck, kissing her skin tenderly. She sat up, confusing the blue haired man he followed suit. "Saru, I know you've done a lot to give me pleasure, so this time…l-let me ser-service you…" she looked up at him shyly, as if asking for permission. "Oh~? And how do you plan to do that, my love?" Saruhiko teased playfully, his ego quite flattered by her submission. "L-like…like this….?" She leaned down and took his wet, half hard cock in her tiny, soft, white hands, stroking up and down gently. It was such an object of intrigue for her, how did such a big thing fit in his pants? How did it fit inside her? Needless to say, he hardened up again instantly. As soon as it became tall and straight, she bent down and lightly encased the tip with her soft pink lips, licking the slit experimentally. "H-how is this…?" she asked uncertainly, looking up at her lover, whose lips gaped open lightly at her ministrations. "Mm…do some more." Saruhiko commanded in a raspy, hoarse tone as he placed a hand on the back of her head, holding her down in place. "Nn, o-ok." She replied obediently as she licked the length of his penis before taking it fully in her mouth. "Mmh…!" she moaned as she sucked, carefully bobbing up and down so that her teeth would not graze his skin.

Needless to say, he seemed to only get harder and bigger the more she sucked, and Misaki worked her cheeks quite hard, sucking constantly. The salty-bitter taste of his semen coated his dick, giving her a very novel experience. "Ahh…Misaki…your virgin holes really are the best….! Uhn….yes, suck harder, like that…." He assisted her by thrusting deep into her throat, earning him a rumbling moan as she took his dick in deeper. To help her out, he began thrusting gently as well, the mounting pressure of her blowjob bringing him closer to his release. Misaki breathed in the deep musk of Saruhiko's genitals as he thrusted into her throat, defiling her virgin mouth that had never given any one a blowjob. His hands had trailed down to reach, in a strained way, her breasts. As she sucked on his cock, he pinched her nipples, making her suck even harder. "Mmph-!" she felt her throat suddenly fill up with a gooey, semi-solid, salty tasting substance. Unable to contain it all in her mouth, she opened her mouth to readjust. Only to have it fill her mouth and spray all over her face as well.

"Look up, Mi~Sa~Ki~ let me see your cute face~" the blue headed man teased playfully, putting a hand underneath her wet chin and forcing her to look up. His cum was splashed onto her face, and she opened her mouth to show the cum she managed to keep contained, before swallowing it. Slowly, she sat up, and the cum dripped down her face onto her chest. The overflow of cum in her vagina and her ass was also starting to pool out, since her crevices were already overstuffed. "Hah….hah….how did I do, Saruhiko? Did…did I do good? Did I pleasure you…?" she asked worriedly. "Of course you did, darling. That was just the best." He reassured her, kissing her wet lips and tasting a bit of himself on her in the process. It was just too cute, her body bared out for him to see, flushed a healthy pink from their activities. Her legs were spread apart, giving him a clear view of her cum filled holes, which were leaking out cum on their own, and trailing up, her chest and face was also covered with his cum. Yes, this is how it was supposed to be, this looked right to him.

"Aah, I'm so glad….I thought you wouldn't like me because I sucked at giving you head." Misaki confided as she snuggled into the blue-black haired man's chest. "Of course not, sweetheart. These things take time, and practice. Thank you for giving me all your firsts…I'll be your only man from now on, right?" He asked. He didn't want this to be a one-time thing, he really didn't. What if after all that, she changed her mind and wanted to sample other men? No, he won't let any other man defile her. Absolutely not! "Yes, of course. Uhm…then…well…" She trailed off shyly, drawing circles on his chest as she looked away. "Hmm? What is it, Misaki? Is there something I can do? Besides marrying you?" Saruhiko held her hands, gazing into her gold-hazel orbs anxiously. "Um…I was wondering…if you'll fulfill another wish I have…" She started out awkwardly. "Of course! I will do it or die trying…what is it? Do you want the moon? The stars? Tell me…?" he snuggled closer to her, holding her tenderly. "No, of course not something that crazy! I-it's just….umm….well….I-I….I've always thought that…a-after my first time…during my first night, I'll have my f-first baby…with the man I love. So….you're not using a condom, are you?" she asked as she blushed bright red. She had wantonly asked him to do all those things to her, but here she was, getting shy about asking whether he was using a condom or not.

_'A family!? She wants to start one with me? So quickly? Not that I mind, but will she be ok? No, screw that. I'll make it so that it's ok for her.'_ "Of course not. You saw me. I didn't put anything over my dick." he answered her right away, determined to start a family with her. "Oh, ok…" she spared a glance at the calendar on the nightstand beside his bed, and blushed even more. "Sa-Saruhiko…I…it's…it's not one of my safe days…actually, none of the rest of the week is my safe day…my period doesn't usually start until two weeks later. So….if we go a few more times….you might REALLY knock me up…and I definitely won't go on the pill, so…do you think we should keep going…?" she asked uncertainly, although the thought of getting knocked up by Saruhiko during her first night was really exciting her. "You planned your perfect first time to be the time you got pregnant with your first child, right? I will fulfill that, and then we'll get married and live together as a family. You, our baby, and me. Don't worry about funds…I've been saving up for this, after all. I'm only sorry I couldn't have married you first…" Saruhiko apologized softly as he pulled her close, gently snuggling her.

"I-I expected to be married too, you know! B-but…then…things just turned out like this…but this is how I feel about getting knocked up by you~…" Misaki reached for one of Saruhiko's hands around her waist, guiding his long digits to trail along her wet entrance, eager for a second round. Her silent plea was answered when she felt a hard appendage poke her bottom. "So…you will…?" Misaki asked uncertainly as she laid back again, her eyes never leaving Saruhiko's gentle yet eager gaze. "Yes, I'm more than happy to. Just tell me if anything hurts..." he replied calmly, in a low, erotic voice as he moved over her again, lining up his rock hard member to her soft, accommodating entrance. "Hngh! Ah!" she couldn't help but cry out in ecstasy as he took her a second time…it just felt so undescribable…so good….she arched her back enthusiastically, meeting with his thrusts as he drove his dick into her even deeper. The knowledge that Misaki would most likely end up pregnant by the end of tonight kept the both of them moist enough to last for the whole night, even if they didn't stop. "Ah! Ah! Ah~~ Saruuuuuu~~ harder! Deeper! Hah….hah…hah….make me pregnant~~!" She screamed out in excitement with every thrust as their pace became quicker, and more stars danced before her eyes. Faster and faster….once again, they tensed up together as he released another batch of thick, warm semen deep inside her womb.

The two continued to make love well throughout the night, until neither of them could keep count on how many times they have made each other climax. They both fell into a deep, peaceful slumber after their exhaustion won over their need to procreate. Misaki slept soundly, stuffed full with her lover's cum. As did Saruhiko, his arms full of his Misaki, looking forward to greeting the next day with her in his arms.

* * *

Ugh…..I….I can't believe I wrote one full chapter on smut….I'm sorry Yata fans! Just…just bury me now….I just felt like I wanted to give Saruhiko some sugar after all those chapters of unhappiness I put him through…and I wanted Misaki to finally admit how much she loves him…blehh….remember two chapters before where she admitted to doing really embarrassing things with Saruhiko? I can't make up my mind whether I should devote separate chapters to each scenario, write another chapter detailing their "marriage week" day by day (obviously it'll be full of smut like this, because Saru won't pass up the chance to "play with" his precious Misaki), or just leave this as the only flashback and get back to the present. They all seem like viable options to me…


End file.
